Cancer biomarker

Genetic,[1] epigenetic,[2] proteomic,[3] glycomic,[4] and imaging biomarkers can be used for cancer diagnosis, prognosis, and epidemiology.

[6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15] Mutant proteins themselves detected by selected reaction monitoring (SRM) have been reported to be the most specific biomarkers for cancers because they can only come from an existing tumor.

The National Cancer Institute (NCI), in particular, defines biomarker as a: “A biological molecule found in blood, other body fluids, or tissues that is a sign of a normal or abnormal process, or of a condition or disease.

[17] The possibility of identifying an effective biomarker for early cancer diagnosis has recently been questioned, in light of the high molecular heterogeneity of tumors observed by next-generation sequencing studies.

[34] Individuals with mutations in the TPMT gene are unable to metabolize large amounts of the leukemia drug, mercaptopurine, which potentially causes a fatal drop in white blood count for such patients.

[37][38] Similarly, additional laboratory research has shown that tumor cells undergoing apoptosis can release cellular components such as cytochrome c, nucleosomes, cleaved cytokeratin-18, and E-cadherin.

This test is intended for women with early-stage (Stage I or II), node-negative, estrogen receptor-positive (ER+) invasive breast cancer who will be treated with hormone therapy.

Ideally, the use of validated biomarkers would prevent patients from having to undergo tumor biopsies and lengthy clinical trials to determine if a new drug worked.

In the current standard of care, the metric for determining a drug's effectiveness is to check if it has decreased cancer progression in humans and ultimately whether it prolongs survival.

However, successful biomarker surrogates could save substantial time, effort, and money if failing drugs could be eliminated from the development pipeline before being brought to clinical trials.

However, significant barriers to their adoption include the difficulty of enriching, identifying, and measuring CTC and miRNA levels in blood.

This ratio focuses on the activity of two components of the immune system that are involved in inflammatory response which is shown to be higher in presence of malignant tumors.

Unfortunately, it has been shown that in the presence of tumors it is highly active which has led to the conclusion that it may help malignant cells reproduce at faster rates.

[73] Due to this, the levels of IGF-R can be increased when cancer such as breast, prostate, lung, and colorectum is present.