DNA microarrays have been used to measure gene expression in samples from patients and to facilitate diagnosis of disease. Gene expression can reveal the presence of cancer in a patient in addition to the type, stage, and origin of the cancer. Gene expression may even have a role in predicting the efficacy of cancer therapies. In recent decades, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) has tested cancer therapeutics for their effect in limiting the growth of 60 human cancer cell lines. The NCI has also measured gene expression in those 60 cancer cell lines using DNA microarrays. Various studies have explored the relationship between gene expression and therapeutic effect using the NCI datasets.
During cancer treatment, critical time is often lost due to a trial and error approach to finding an effective therapy. In addition, cancer cells often develop resistance to a previously effective therapy. In such situations, patient outcome would be greatly improved by early detection of such resistance.
Thus, there exists a need in the art for methods and devices that can predict the responsiveness of cancer patients to a medical treatment.