ABSTRACT
Cancer affects people of all ages and remains one of the leading causes of death worldwide. The American Cancer Society estimates that about 1,660,290 Americans new cancer diagnosis, and 580,350 cancer death are expected to occur in 2013.1 Encouragingly, a significant reduction of cancer death has been achieved over the last 20 years.2 According to the Annual Report to the Nation on the Status of Cancer, the overall rate of both new cancer incidence and cancer deaths continued to decrease between 2003 and 2007 in the United States.3 The decrease in cancer death rates of 1.6% per year continues a trend that began in the early 1990s. The achievements are largely attributed to our growing understanding of cancer genetics and
biology, cancer prevention, and improvements in cancer diagnosis and treatment. Of particular note is the expanding body of molecular solutions in the treatment of cancer, which opens up avenues for tailored cancer management. Concurrently, these have created significant needs for predictive (therapeutic) biomarkers to identify subsets of patients who are most likely or unlikely to benefit from a particular treatment. This book covers current advances on the therapeutic biomarkers that predict response or benefit or adverse events from a given antineoplastic treatment and, to a lesser degree, on markers of prognosis that influence the choice of treatment option. This review volume, in general, does not cover markers for cancer diagnosis, staging of any cancer types, and classification of extent of disease or disease monitoring. Each chapter provides a comprehensive overview of the molecular targets, a class of anticancer drugs and in depth insights of the relevant biomarkers.
