Breast cancer is one of the most serious
carcinomas among women worldwide, yet there are now encouraging signs that improvements in the mortality rate may be possible. The use of
hormone therapy and
chemotherapy has been widely accepted as treatment for
breast cancer. Predictive factors can be used to predict response or lack of response to a particular
therapy, and prognostic factors can be useful in making decisions about which patients should receive adjuvant
therapy. Histopathology remains the universal basis of diagnosis, with the identification of new
surrogate markers for potential new treatments. These are aimed at blocking
tumor cell proliferation, neutralizing
growth factors, stimulating apoptosis and blocking
metastasis, and represent an integral part of new approaches for improving clinical management of patients with
breast cancer. We review the standard predictive and prognostic factors that are routinely available today, and also describe some of the new, potential markers that are currently under investigation.