Introduction

INTRODUCTION Cancer is a global health concern without geographical, racial, or ethnic borders. In the United States, in 2011, it is predicted that 1.6 million people will receive a new cancer diagnosis and 570,000 deaths will occur due to cancer.¹ Although cancer mortality has decreased in recent years, it is still more deadly than heart disease for individuals under 85 years of age.¹

Chemotherapy is often the most effective cancer treatment, yet patient toxicity and drug resistant tumors are common obstacles in achieving and maintaining a cancer-free status.² While new chemotherapeutic strategies are developed, the status quo of chemotherapy is less than acceptable, especially in advanced disease.^3,4 For this reason, anti-cancer agents have evolved from chemotherapy that kills proliferating cells indiscriminately to molecular-targeted agents that inhibit or alter individual molecules to be effective. However, knowledge of the tumor cell molecular profile is necessary to provide predictive outcomes for the clinical efficacy of molecularly targeted agents. To further reduce cancer mortality, the analysis of empirical evidence that denotes the origins of cancer, both cellular and molecular, and the study and design of novel therapeutic agents that possess focused biomolecular actions, are at the forefront of clinical cancer research.