Cancer Biomarkers
A cancer biomarker refers to a substance or process that's indicative of the presence of cancer within the body. A biomarker is also a molecule secreted by a tumor or a specific response of the body to the presence of cancer. Genetic, epigenetic, proteomic, glycomic, and imaging biomarkers are often used for cancer diagnosing, prognosis, and epidemiology. Ideally, such biomarkers can be assayed in non-invasively collected biofluids like blood or serum. A number of gene and protein based biomarkers have already been used at some point in patient care; including, AFP (Liver Cancer), BCR-ABL (Chronic Myeloid Leukemia), BRCA1 / BRCA2 (Breast/Ovarian Cancer), BRAF V600E (Melanoma/Colorectal Cancer)
Breast : ER/PR (estrogen receptor/progesteron receptor), HER-2/neu
Colorectal : EGFR , KRAS, UGT1A1
Gastric : HER-2/neu
GIST : c-KIT
- Diagnostic
- Prognostic, Predictive biomarkers