Issues

In this issue, Molecular Cancer Therapeutics inaugurates “Spotlight on Molecular Profiling,” a series of invited, refereed articles focused on molecular characterization of cancer cell types important to research in pharmacology and therapeutics. The spotlight, at least initially, will be on the NCI-60, a panel of 60 human cancer cell lines used by the National Cancer Institute to screen >100,000 chemical compounds and natural product extracts since 1990. The top panel shows the NCI-60 screen viewed schematically as a system for profiling the compounds tested and cells used in the testing process. The bottom panel shows conceptually the multiple types of molecular profiles that have been, or are being, developed on the NCI-60 at the DNA, RNA, protein, small molecule, functional, and pharmacological levels. Underlying the enterprise is the “integromic hypothesis”—the idea that different types of molecular information can combine synergistically, or at least additively, in the search for new biomarkers and therapeutic agents for personalization of medicine. For details, see the Commentary by Weinstein in this issue.