Microarrays to identify new therapeutic strategies for cancer

Over the past decade, microarrays have emerged as an important tool for the characterization of cancer cells. Numerous studies have demonstrated that cDNA arrays can help delineate biological subsets of disease that have prognostic relevance. Such studies provide hope that introduction of this information into clinical trials will lead to more biologically based stratification schemes such that appropriately tailored therapies can be developed. While the identification of unique subsets of cancer promises to improve our ability to predict which cancers are unlikely to have a significant response to therapy, new therapeutic approaches are needed in most cases. The wealth of information that comes from microarray analysis of cancer likely holds the information necessary to develop such approaches. This chapter will provide examples where microarray analysis has been used in an attempt to either direct the use of current therapies or identify new potential therapeutic avenues.