Advances in Cancer Biomarkers

Roberto Scatena

At present, there are a growing number of biomolecules under investigation to understand their potential role as cancer biomarker for diagnostic, prognostic and therapeutic purposes. Intriguingly, the state of art on cancer biomarkers research shows interesting and promising results together to clamorous failures. Also from a clinical point of view, there are contradictory results on routine clinical use of the present cancer biomarkers. Some patients may be simply monitored in their course by a periodic blood sample, but sometimes this monitoring show dramatic limits. A lot of patients show serious and extensive relapses without significant change in serum concentrations of biomarkers tested. Often the physician who should utilize these biomarkers does not entirely know their limits and the total potential applications as well and sometimes this knowledge is influenced by economical and marketing strategies. This limited and "polluted" knowledge may have dramatic consequences for patient. A critical approach towards old and new cancer biomarkers should foster a deepened and useful understanding of the diagnostic and prognostic index of these fundamental parameters of laboratory medicine and in the same time can facilitate the research of new and more sensitive-specific signals of the cancer cell proliferation.