The invention relates generally to the field of
cancer prognosis and treatment. More particularly, the present invention relates to methods and compositions that utilize a particular panel of
gene products (“biomarkers”) and their
differential expression patterns (“expression signatures”), wherein the expression patterns correlate with responsiveness, or lack thereof, to
chemotherapy treatment. The invention is based on the identification of a specific set of biomarkers that are differentially expressed in
chemotherapy-treated tumors and which are useful in predicting the likelihood of a therapeutic response, including residual
disease persistence and subsequent
tumor recurrence in
cancer patients receiving
chemotherapy. The
gene panel is also useful in designing specific
adjuvant modalities with improved therapeutic efficiency. Also disclosed are methods for characterizing tumors according to expression of the biomarkers described herein.