Tumor Biomarker Discovery: Methods And Protocols (methods In Molecular Biology)
by Michael A. Tainsky /
2009 / English / PDF
4.7 MB Download
Biomarkers are molecular indicators of a biological status and, as
biochemical species, can be interrogated to evaluate disease status
and therapeutic interventions. Biomarkers may be detectable in the
blood, other body fluids, or tissues. The expectation is that the
level of an informative biomarker is related to the specific type
of disease present in the body. Hence, disease-relevant biomarkers
can be used to measure the presence, progress, or intensity of
disease. Through a variety of mechanisms, cancer cells provide the
biomarker material for their own detection. Tumor biomarkers
include cancer-specific mutations or changes in gene expression,
both of which can result in aberrant protein expression. These
variant or abundant proteins can be detectable in the circulation
as the free proteins or as novel autoantibodies to those proteins,
the latter indicating that the immune system can provide an
exquisitely sensitive sensor of disease. Because cancer cells shed
DNA in the circu- tion, an event rarely seen in healthy
individuals, tumor-specific genetic changes, such as promoter
methylation or gene mutations, are detectable in DNA prepared from
plasma or other body fluids. Cancer-related biochemical changes
often effect measurable me- bolic variations within a cell or
organism. In addition, these biochemical changes result in
posttranslational modification of proteins via glycosylation or
phosphorylation providing a plethora of opportunity for biomarker
discovery.
Biomarkers are molecular indicators of a biological status and, as
biochemical species, can be interrogated to evaluate disease status
and therapeutic interventions. Biomarkers may be detectable in the
blood, other body fluids, or tissues. The expectation is that the
level of an informative biomarker is related to the specific type
of disease present in the body. Hence, disease-relevant biomarkers
can be used to measure the presence, progress, or intensity of
disease. Through a variety of mechanisms, cancer cells provide the
biomarker material for their own detection. Tumor biomarkers
include cancer-specific mutations or changes in gene expression,
both of which can result in aberrant protein expression. These
variant or abundant proteins can be detectable in the circulation
as the free proteins or as novel autoantibodies to those proteins,
the latter indicating that the immune system can provide an
exquisitely sensitive sensor of disease. Because cancer cells shed
DNA in the circu- tion, an event rarely seen in healthy
individuals, tumor-specific genetic changes, such as promoter
methylation or gene mutations, are detectable in DNA prepared from
plasma or other body fluids. Cancer-related biochemical changes
often effect measurable me- bolic variations within a cell or
organism. In addition, these biochemical changes result in
posttranslational modification of proteins via glycosylation or
phosphorylation providing a plethora of opportunity for biomarker
discovery.