Editorial Molecular Markers in the Diagnosis and Treatment of Cancer

which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Our understanding of cancer as a disease process has evolved tremendously over the centuries, culminating in the late 20th century with the discovery of oncogenes and tumor suppres-sor genes and subsequent understanding of carcinogenesis as it is depicted in the classic hallmarks of cancer paper byHana-han andWeinberg [1]. Genetic and epigenetic alterations have been increasingly identified in many diseases, including a wide variety of neoplasms. As more of these alterations are being discovered, their significance in some diseases remains still obscure, while they have become diagnostic, prognostic, and predictive genetic signatures for others. It is becoming clear that a given genetic alteration and associated molecular changes involving particular pathways in the neoplastic cell may not necessarily be specific for tha