A large-scale screen for somatic mutations in breast and colorectal tumors showed that many low-frequency mutations each make small contribution to cell survival. If cell survival is determined by many mutations of small effect, it is unlikely that<unk><unk>  will uncover a single "Achilles heel" target for anti-cancer drugs. However, somatic mutations tend to cluster in a limited number of signalling pathways, which are potential treatment targets.<unk> s are heterogeneous populations of cells. When sequence data is derived from a whole tumor, information about the differences in sequence and expression pattern between cells is lost. This difficulty can be ameliorated by single-cell analysis. Clinically significant properties of tumors, including drug resistance, are sometimes caused by large-scale rearrangements of the<unk> , rather than single mutations. In this case, information about single nucleotide variants will be of limited utility.<unk>  can be used to provide clinically relevant information in patients with rare or novel tumor types. Translating sequence information into a clinical treatment plan is highly complicated, requires experts of many different fields, and is not guaranteed to lead to an effective treatment plan.
Cancer genome sequencing
Tumor metabolome
Lineage markers
Molecular tumor board
Cancer staging
Cancer pharmacogenomics
Molecular oncology
Response evaluation criteria in solid tumors