Abstract
Although targeted cancer therapy has risen major hope, clinical success is restricted to trastuzumab, imatinib and vemurafenib only whereas for most other drugs no overall survival benefit has yet been demonstrated. Resistance to targeted therapy leading to recurrence or disease progression and death suggests a major challenge. The mechanisms of intrinsic or acquired resistance are so far modestly understood. More recently, the advent of high-throughput next-generation sequencing technologies changes research direction to overcome modest efficacy of targeted drugs. These breakthrough technologies along with systems approach reveal the genetic and epigenetic heterogeneity underlying cancer and the existence of complex functional networks which regulate gene expression profiling, genome function and cellular signalling pathways networks. These advances allow the development of robust biomarkers for tailoring the best combination of available drugs to individual patients and create the background for the future network-based drugs.

(Citation: Gastric & Breast Cancer 2011; 11(2): 72-78)

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