The integration of biological pathway knowledge in cancer genomics: A review of existing computational approaches

Cancer etiology and progression is currently understood to be driven primarily by molecular and genetic mechanisms. The textbook model of cancer development is of progression through a series of increasingly disordered pathological phases with primary tumors typically consisting of populations of cells with genetic abnormalities that enable them to multiply, overcome organ boundaries, disseminate, and finally colonize distant sites [1], [2]. Early insights into cancer biology were based on individual oncogenes or tumor suppressors, the past couple of decades have conclusively shown that cancer is a complex disease involving the interactions of multiple genes in poorly understood manners.