© 2004 Massachusetts Medical Society
This analysis of gene expression ranks 36 genes on the basis of their predictive power (univariate z score), with a negative score associated with longer overall survival and a positive score associated with shorter overall survival. The dashed lines represent an absolute univariate z score of ± 1.5. The prediction model is based on the weighted expression of six genes in the equation shown. (N Engl J Med, 350:1828–37, 2004.)
Medicinal drugs save patients, but compounds fail in many cases and even cause death in others. According to the US Food & Drug Administration's Center for Education and Research on Therapeutics, adverse drug reactions kill 100,000 Americans each year, registering as the fourth leading cause of death.1 In the United States at least, prescribed drugs are more lethal than AIDS or automobile accidents. The problem is, no physician can know for certain how a patient ...
