The genetic basis and clinical application of heterogeneity of breast cancer / 中华外科杂志

ABSTRACT

Breast cancer is comprised of a group of heterogeneous diseases that differ significantly in their clinic-pathologic characteristics and molecular profiles. For many years, this disease has been classified according to the integral clinicopathological factors, to provide a dictates for institution of therapeutic approach. Over the past decades, several waves of technology have advanced the characterization of mutations in cancer genomes, especially the emerge and application of high-through next-generation sequencing technique. It has enabled systematic characterization of the full repertoire of molecular diversity of cancer cells, and yielded substantial insights into the genomic mutation and evolution, the intrinsic genetic nature of biology and heterogeneity in human cancer. This article aims to describe recent advances and application of advanced technologies towards the identification of heterogeneity of breast cancer.