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Tumor Markers

A host of blood tests can assess the health of different organs and systems in your body. Some doctors order "tumor markers" (or "cancer markers") to detect possible cancer activity in the body. If cancer is present, it will usually produce a specific protein in the blood, that can serve as a "marker" for the cancer. Biochemical method such as Biomarkers C12 measures tumor markers and predicts the development of tumors based on marker concentration.

For example, CA 15.3 is the name of a protein used to find breast and ovarian cancers. CA125 may signal ovarian and breast cancer recurrence. CA 27.29 are other examples of proteins associated with breast cancer, which your doctor may test for. CEA (carcinoembryonic antigen) is a marker for the presence of colon, lung, and liver cancers. This marker may be used to determine if cancer has spread to other areas of the body.

Some doctors rely on markers as an early indicator of disease progression or recurrence, with the hope of finding a local, curable tumor. If you have an elevated marker, your doctor may check that marker periodically to assess response to chemotherapy.

Now we know that biochemically no single tumor marker is sensitive or specific enough for tumor detection. Combined measurement of multiple tumor markers is being adopted for more accurate detection of tumors in recent years and Biomarkers C12 is a perfect solution – to detect 12 tumor markers simultaneously – which means more economical and accurate. Previously testing all 12 tumor markers would be prohibitively expensive.

What is Biomarkers C12 ?
Biomarkers C12 is a 12-Tumor Marker Test Kit using latest protein chip biotechnology for the detection of up to 10 cancers with 12 tumor markers simultaneously.

Using parallel analysis of 12 tumor markers to diagnose simultaneously several types of tumor including hepatocellular cancer, lung cancer, prostate cancer, pancreas cancer, stomach cancer, esophagus cancer, ovarian cancer, endometrial cancer, colon/rectum cancer and breast cancer.

Biomarkers has the characteristics of high sensitivity and specificity; it is fast, high throughput, and cost-efficient in detecting tumor markers. It measures 12 common tumor markers and is most efficient for cancer screen in large population. Biomarkers C12 has provided a solution for a major problem in clinical diagnostics, i.e. fast and effective detection of early tumors.
12 Tumor Markers associated with possible cancers

Chart showing tumor markers in association with cancers

Diagram showing tumor markers / cancer associated with organs

The sensitivity and specificity of multi-tumor markers are higher than single tumor marker

Multi-marker protein panels for cancer diagnosis

Conventional approaches to the diagnosis of cancer study the up- and down-regulation of single proteins in serum or tissue samples. While these approaches have resulted in a number of useful biomarkers, they are laborious and time-consuming methods.

Recently, scientists have used protein chip technology – along with computer based classification algorithms – to discover signature protein panels in serum that discriminate cancer patients from healthy individuals.

These multi-marker protein panels consist of many individual proteins, none of which can independently differentiate a cancer patient from a healthy individual.

Multi-marker discovery & validation

Drs Chip Petricoin and Lance Liotta from the joint FDA/ NCI proteomics center, Dr Daniel Chan from Johns Hopkins University and Dr George Wright from Eastern Virginia Medical School have all had success with multi-marker technology platform.

These preeminent researchers have combined protein chip technology with a variety of statistically multivariate algorithms to discover multi-marker protein panels in serum of ovarian, prostate and breast cancer patients.

Data from some of their recent publications clearly demonstrates that multi-marker protein panels have significantly higher positive predictive value than single markers in discriminating cancer patients from non-cancer patients as the chart below describes.

MARKERS
CANCER
SENSITIVITY
SPECIFICITY
PSA
Prostate
65%
35%
Multi-Marker
Prostate (1)
83%
97%
CA15.3
Breast
23%
69%
Multi-Marker
Breast (2)
93%
91%
CA125
Ovarian
35%
98%
Multi-Marker
Ovarian (3)
100%
95%
Data derived from Adam et al., Cancer Research, 62, 3609-3614 (2002); Li et al., Clinical Chemistry, 48, 1296-1304 (2002); and Petricoin et al., The Lancet , 359, 572-577 (2002)

 


















References

(1) Adam, B-Leg Qu, Y., Davis, J.W., Ward, M.D.,Clements, M.A., Cazares, L.H., Semmes, O.J.,Schellhammer, PF, Yasui, Y., Feng, Z., Wright,G. Serum protein fingerprinting coupled witha pattern-matching algorithm distinguishes prostate cancer from benign prostate hyper-plasia and healthy men. Cancer Research , 62,3609-3614 (2002).

(2) Li, J., Zhang, Z., Rosenzweig, Wang, Y.Y.,Chan, D.W. Proteomics and bioinformaticsapproached for identification of serum biomarkers to detecting breast cancer. Clinical Chemistry , 48, 1296-1304 (2002).

(3) Petricoin, E.F., Ardekani, A.M., Hitt, B.A.,Levine, P.J., Fusaro, V.A., Steinberg, S.M.,Mills, G.B., Simone, C., Fishman, D.A., Kohn,E.C., Liotta, L.A. Use of proteomic patterns in serum to identify ovarian cancer. The Lancet , 359, 572-577 (2002).

(4) Petricoin, E.F., Ornstein, D.K., Paweletz, C.P.,Ardekani, A., Hackett, P.S., Hitt, B.A., Velassco,A., Trucco, C., Weigand, L., Woo, K., Simone,C.B., Levine, P.J., Linehan, M., Emmert-Buck,M.R., Steinberg, S. M., Kohn, E.C., Liotta, L.A.Serum Proteomic Patterns for Detection of Prostate Cancer. Journal of the National Cancer Institute 94, 1576-1578 (2002).

(5) Rai, A.J., Zhang, Z., Rosenzweig, J., Shih, L.,Pham, T., Fung, E., Sokoll, L.J., Chan, D.W.Proteomic Approaches to Tumor Marker Discovery. Identification of Biomarkers for Ovarian Cancer. Arch. Pathol. Lab. Med. 126, 1518-1526 (2002)

Copyright Biomarkers 2005


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