Tag Archives: cancer biomarker

Shedding light on genomic signatures of melanoma

Posted on May 30, 2012 by Jyoti M.. Filed under Paper Trail, Research

A new study shows different mutation classes associated with distinct melanoma sub-types

Skin cancer remains one of the most common forms of the disease in the U.S. Though melanomas account for less than 5% of all skin cancers, they cause the large majority of deaths from the disease. Some parts of the skin (like the palms and soles) develop cancers much less frequently, and the rare ‘acral melanomas’ that originate from these types of skin have less in common with other skin cancers. Read more…

Sorting through omics data for cancer biomarkers

Posted on March 30, 2012 by Jyoti M.. Filed under Case Studies, Conferences

Going to the AACR Annual Meeting? Visit our poster to find out more about a novel biomarker candidate for cancer!

The genome of a healthy person is constantly interacting with external signals and internal cues to adapt to a changing environment. Similarly, tumors also respond to the therapies aimed at removing them; chemotherapy and targeted molecular therapies can occasionally induce additional mutations or gene expression changes in tumor genomes. These secondary genetic changes are associated with increased drug resistance, recurrent forms of cancer and poorer chances of survival for patients.

Our presentation at the AACR Annual Meeting next week focuses on the correlations we identified for one such gene, sorting nexin 9 (SNX9). NextBio analysis of data correlations to SNX9 revealed several correlations of the gene to multiple types of cancer, including breast, prostate and other cancers. Read more…

Epigenetic changes mark up ovarian cancer cells

Posted on January 3, 2012 by Jyoti M.. Filed under Case Studies, Paper Trail, Research

A genome wide methylation screen finds a potential new biomarker for ovarian cancer

In the forty years since the ‘War on Cancer’ was declared, ovarian cancer is the only form of the disease where mortality rates remain unchanged, in part due to a lack of early detection tests and specific treatments. In 2011, an estimated 15,000 women in the U.S will die of ovarian cancer.

A recent study in PLoS One by Campan et al. describes the identification of a new candidate biomarker, IFFO1, in a genome-wide DNA methylation screen of blood samples from ovarian cancer patients. Less invasive than tests that require tissue samples, and chemically and biologically more stable than RNA markers for gene expression, DNA methylation changes that can be tracked in blood samples are promising biomarkers for cancer detection and treatment. Read more…