Drug sensitivity and resistance genes in cancer chemotherapy:: a chemogenomics approach

Resistance to antineoplastic drugs represents a serious obstacle to successful cancer treatment. Genome-wide studies correlating drug response phenotypes with large DNA/tissue microarray and proteomic datasets have been performed to identify the genes and proteins involved in chemosensitivity or drug resistance. The goal is to identify a set of chemosensitivity and/or resistance genes for each drug that are predictive of treatment response. Therefore, validated pharmacogenomic biomarkers offer the potential for the selection of optimal treatment regimens for individual patients and for identifying novel therapeutic targets to overcome drug resistance.