Biomarkers in cancer: is ‘omices’ the way to go

Abstract

Biomarkers, as indicators of normal biological or pathogenic processes or pharmacological responses to a therapeutic intervention, have been reported to be useful prognostic and predictive markers of cancer diseases. The past decade has witnessed major advances toward biomarker discovery; however, only a few biomarkers have made their way into clinical routine such as estrogen receptor (ER) and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2). The ER-positive patients with breast cancer respond to ER antagonist, Tamoxifen; whereas ER-negative patients do not benefit from Tamoxifen treatment. HER2-positive patients respond well to a humanized monoclonal antibody against the extracellular domain of HER2, Herceptin, whereas HER2-negative patients do not.

(Published: 31 March 2011)

Citation: Libyan J Med 2011, 6: 5982 - DOI: 10.3402/ljm.v6i0.5982