Molecular medicine: a primer for clinicians. Part XII: DNA microarrays and their application to clinical medicine.

Previous papers in our Molecular Medicine series have described how the many tools of the molecular biologist are being used to develop practical bedside applications of modern molecular biology. We have discussed molecular diagnostics, gene therapy, and applications in clinical genetics. In this paper we discuss DNA microarray technology which provides a genome-wide profile of gene expression. We then describe some current and potential clinical applications in the disease diagnosis, prognosis and treatment. Particularly exciting is the potential of DNA array technology to provide individualized treatment for a wide variety of clinical conditions.