Cancer molecular markers

Ransohoff, D. F. (2004). Rules of evidence for cancer molecular marker discovery and validation. Nut. Rev. 

Mutluhan H, Akbas E, Eras-Erdogan N et al (2008) The influence of HER2 genotypes as molecular markers on breast cancer outcome. DNA CeU Biol 27 575-579... 

With increasing interest in undertaking animal experimental and human clinical and intervention studies to evaluate the role of lycopene in cancer prevention, it is important that well-established molecular and clinical markers of cancer be used in these studies. In general, the main clinical end points used in animal and human experiments are the tumor burden and volume and survival rates. Now that our understanding of cancer pathology has advanced, several molecular events are beginning to be recognized and used in research to evaluate the outcomes from intervention studies. A brief overview of some of the more important molecular markers of cancer that can and should be used in future studies is presented in this section. 

Prostate-specific antigen (PSA) is one of the most reliable cancer-specific molecular markers. PSA expression is, for the most part, restricted to the prostate and elevated serum PSA indicates the possibility of malignant prostate cancer. Use of serum PSA as a diagnostic tool is still controversial since PSA levels are also elevated in benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH),... 

Kumar-Sinha C, Chinnaiyan AM. Molecular markers to identify patients at risk for recurrence after primary treatment for prostate cancer. Urology 2003 62(suppl 1) 19—35. 

Luo J, Zha S, Gage WR, Dunn TA, Hicks JL, Bennett CJ, Ewing CM, Platz EA, Ferdinandusse S, Wanders RJ, Trent JM, Isaacs WB, De Marzo AM. Alpha-methylacyl-CoA racemase a new molecular marker for prostate cancer. Cancer Res 2002 62 2220-2226. 

Welsh JB, Zarrinkar PP, Sapinoso LM, et al. Analysis of gene expression profiles in normal and neoplastic ovarian tissue samples identifies candidate molecular markers of epithelial ovarian cancer. PNAS USA 2001 98 1176-81. 

Di Leo, A. et al., New strategies to identify molecular markers predicting chemotherapy activity and toxicity in breast cancer, Ann. Oncol., 18(Suppl. 12), xii8, 2007. 

Soon PS, McDonald KL, Robinson BG, Sidhu SB. Molecular markers and the pathogenesis of adrenocortical cancer. Oncologist. 200S-,13 548-561. 

Early detection markers include two major groups. The first group is molecular markers that can be applied to tissue biopsies in order to better stratify at-risk groups. The second group is cancer-associated markers that can be detected in blood, urine, ejaculates, or prostatic massage fluid as a noninvasive diagnostic alternative to needle biopsy. 

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