The present invention features improved compounds, especiallymethods of identifying patients having cancer using biomarkers (e.g., PDE3A, SLFN12 and/or CREB3L1) that correlate with drug sensitivity and consequently treating a stratified patient population with an agent of the invention (e.g., Compounds 1-6 disclosed herein).本發明特點係為經改良化合物,尤其是使用與藥物敏感性相關之生物標記物(例如PDE3A、SLFN12及/或CREB3L1)鑑別出患有癌症之病人及因此用本發明之藥劑(例如本文所揭示之化合物1-6)治療經分級病人群體的方法。