Molecular profiling of gastric cancer: toward personalized cancer medicine

Gastric cancer is the fourthmost commoncancerworldwide and the second leading cause of global cancer deaths. The prognosis of patients diagnosed with gastric cancer continues to be dismal, despite improving surgical and adjuvant treatment approaches, with a 5-year overall survival less than 25%.1,2 The high disease incidence and poor outcomes continue tomake gastric cancer a topic of active clinical and basic scientific research. Notwithstanding these efforts, relatively little is known about themolecular changes that contribute to the develop-mentof this deadlydisease andhow theymay influenceoutcomes and therapeutic results. Gastric cancer can be considered a multifactorial disease be-cause many inherited and environmental factors play a role in its carcinogenesis, including the genetic background of the host, in-fectious agents such asHelicobacter pylori, and dietary habits. Gas-tric cancer is a heterogeneous disorder that can be divided into a