Translating the cancer genome: Going beyond p values

Cancer cells are endowed with diverse biological capabilities driven by myriad inherited and somatic genetic and epigenetic aberrations that commandeer key cancer-relevant pathways. Efforts to elucidate these aberrations began with Boveri's hypothesis of aberrant mitoses causing cancer and continue today with a suite of powerful high-resolution technologies that enable detailed catalogues of genomic aberrations and epigenomic modifications. Tomorrow will likely bring the complete atlas of reversible and irreversible alteration in individual cancers. The challenge now is to discern causal molecular abnormalities from genomic and epigenomic 'noise', to understand how the ensemble of these aberrations collaborate to drive cancer pathophysiology. Here, we highlight lessons learned from now classical examples of successful translation of genomic discoveries into clinical practice, lessons that may be used to guide and accelerate translation of emerging genomic insights into practical clinical endpoints that can impact on practice of cancer medicine