Biomarker for Severity and Recurrence of Breast Cancer

Filed in archive Diagnostics, Methodologies and Instrumentation , Genomics, Proteomics and Bioinformatics on June 18, 2010

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Researchers have identified a biomarker in the blood which can predict the severity of breast cancer in patients, distinguish breast cancer patients with a greater risk of disease recurrence, and may enable clinicians to track patients throughout the course of their treatment.

The research, funded by Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) and Breast Cancer Ireland (BCI) investigated the protein changes in breast cancer that is resistant to treatment and found a higher level of a protein called HOXC11 and the presence of a secreted molecule S100-beta that is detected via a simple blood test.

Further work on this project is being funded by the UK based charity Breast Cancer Campaign to hopefully develop a new blood test that can predict which breast cancers will become drug resistant to current therapies, ensuring that only those who will benefit from a particular treatment actually receive it.