©The Author(s) 2015. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Oct 21, 2015; 21(39): 10948-10955
Published online Oct 21, 2015. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v21.i39.10948
Published online Oct 21, 2015. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v21.i39.10948
Companion diagnostics for the targeted therapy of gastric cancer
Changhoon Yoo, Departments of Oncology, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul 138-736, South Korea
Young Soo Park, Department of Pathology, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul 138-736, South Korea
Author contributions: Yoo C and Park YS analyzed the literature and wrote the manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare no conflicts of interest related to this study.
Correspondence to: Young Soo Park, MD, PhD, Department of Pathology, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, 88, Olympic-ro 43-gil, Songpa-gu, Seoul 138-736, South Korea. youngspark@amc.seoul.kr
Telephone: +82-2-30105608 Fax: +82-2-4727898
Received: May 5, 2015
Peer-review started: May 11, 2015
First decision: June 23, 2015
Revised: July 9, 2015
Accepted: August 30, 2015
Article in press: August 30, 2015
Published online: October 21, 2015
Processing time: 166 Days and 19 Hours
Peer-review started: May 11, 2015
First decision: June 23, 2015
Revised: July 9, 2015
Accepted: August 30, 2015
Article in press: August 30, 2015
Published online: October 21, 2015
Processing time: 166 Days and 19 Hours
Core Tip
Core tip: Companion diagnostics are in vitro clinical laboratory assays designed to predict the efficacy of treatment using biomarker-based assessments. For patients with gastric cancer, immunohistochemistry for human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) overexpression and fluorescence in situ hybridization for HER2 amplification are the only approved companion diagnostic devices. In this era of targeted therapy, the concurrent development of companion diagnostic techniques is critical for the success of novel therapeutics. Furthermore, the successful co-development of drug and companion diagnostics requires a thorough molecular understanding of both tumor biology and the mechanisms of drug actions.