The evolving role of cancer cell line-based screens to define the impact of cancer genomes on drug response?

Over the last decade we have witnessed the convergence of two powerful experimental designs toward a common goal of defining the molecular subtypes that underpin the likelihood of a cancer patient responding to treatment in the clinic. The first of these ‘experiments’ has been the systematic sequencing of large numbers of cancer genomes through the International Cancer Genome Consortium and The Cancer Genome Atlas. This endeavour is beginning to yield a complete catalogue of the cancer genes that are critical for tumourigenesis and amongst which we will find tomorrow's biomarkers and drug targets. The second ‘experiment’ has been the use of large-scale biological models such as cancer cell lines to correlate mutations in cancer genes with drug sensitivity, such that one could begin to develop rationale clinical trials to begin to test these hypotheses. It is at this intersection of cancer genome sequencing and biological models that there exists the opportunity to completely transform how we stratify cancer patients in the clinic for treatment.