Credit: Marc Rosenthal

Over the past few years, new technologies have begun to unravel the genomic secrets of cancer by illuminating differences between tumors and normal tissue. High-density geno­typing and gene expression arrays can quickly and cheaply scan the genome for alterations and gene-expression changes linked to cancer. Sequencing of candidate genes has uncovered cancer-specific mutations, and other assays have identified changes to the higher-order structure of DNA and its companion proteins. Using statistical analysis to pinpoint the biochemical pathways affected by these changes allows us to untangle the complex interplay of cell regulation, cell signaling, and other functions that transform a normal cell into a cancerous one.

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