Biomarkers in Breast Cancer - An Update

The therapy of choice for breast cancer patients requiring adjuvant chemo- or radiotherapy is increasingly guided by the principle of weighing the individual effectiveness of the therapy against the associated side effects. This has only been made possible by the discovery and validation of modern biomarkers. In the last decades and in the last few years some biomarkers have been integrated in clinical practice and a number have been included in modern study concepts. The importance of biomarkers lies not merely in their prognostic value indicating the future course of disease but also in their use to predict patient response to therapy. Due to the many subgroups, mathematical models and computer-assisted analysis are increasingly being used to assess the prognostic information obtained from established clinical and histopathological factors. In addition to describing some recent computer programmes this overview will focus on established molecular markers which have already been extensively validated in clinical practice and on new molecular markers identified by genome-wide studies.