Cancer: looking outside the genome

The 'gene-centric' approach has produced a wealth of information about the origins and progression of cancer, and investigators seek a full compilatio n of altered gene expressions for tumour characterization and treatment. Ho wever, the cancer genome appears to be far more unstable than previously th ought. It may therefore be prudent to augment gene-level approaches with su pra-genomic strategies that circumvent the genomic variability of cancer ce lls.