SAB NewsBiomarkers Will Aid in Disease DiagnosisPosted 8/4/2003 Members of The Science Advisory Board were asked in which area they believed deciphering biomarker expression patterns would have the most clinical utility. Of the 1722 individuals who responded to the Instant Poll, 40% stated that disease diagnosis would principally benefit from this knowledge. The remaining respondents were divided when assessing the role of biomarkers in disease prognosis and drug response monitoring with 20% of the responses representing each of these two categories. A small minority, 11%, felt that patient stratification would be improved by knowing the biomarker expression patterns of these individuals. A biomarker is a particular protein(s) that is unique to a certain disease state. For instance quite significant changes in the expression of genes and their resulting proteins occur when normal cells are transformed into a cancerous state. These changes include both gain and loss of function. Identifying which patterns are associated with which diseases will empower patients and physicians by providing them with more options at earlier stages of the disease. “I predict that the ultimate test as to whether biomarkers will be routinely used in the clinic depends upon their detection limits,” observes Tamara Zemlo, Ph.D., MPH, Director of Scientific and Medical Communications for The Science Advisory Board, “if the sensitivity and specificity can approach 100%, disease diagnosis using biomarker expression patterns will transform medicine.” One striking application of this new technology would be to reliably detect low prevalence cancers while they are still highly treatable.” |
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