Paul Scotting and Penny Howard open a series on cancer genetics by outlining how advances in research have revised our knowledge about the disease and led to the development of new treatments, such as targeted therapies

Cancer research is moving fast. Understanding of the biology of cancer, its detection and the therapies used to treat it are changing rapidly. The aim of this series of articles is to refresh your knowledge of the basics of cancer genetics and to provide an update on the latest aspects related to assessment of familial risk and therapies. In particular, this series focuses on the relative role of genetics in the risk of developing cancer.

This first article provides an overview of the current understanding of cancer biology and concludes with a brief discussion of therapies that have been developed as a result.