Novel technologies are now being advanced for the purpose of identification and validation of new disease biomarkers. A reliable and useful clinical biomarker must a) come from a readily attainable source, such as blood or urine, b) have sufficient sensitivity to correctly identify affected individuals, c) have sufficient specificity to avoid incorrect labeling of unaffected persons, and d) result in a notable benefit for the patient through intervention, such as survival or life quality improvement. Despite these critical descriptors, the few available FDA-approved biomarkers for cancer do not completely fit this definition and their benefits are limited to a small number of cancers. Ovarian cancer exemplifies the need for a diagnostic biomarker of early stage disease. Symptoms are present but not specific to the disease, delaying diagnosis until an advanced and generally incurable stage in over 70&#x25; of affected women. As such, diagnostic intervention in the form of oopherectomy can be performed in the appropriate at-risk population if identified such as with a new accurate, sensitive, and specific biomarker. If early stage disease is identified, the requirement for survival and life quality improvement will be met. One of the new technologies applied to biomarker discovery is tour-de-force analysis of serum peptides and proteins. Optimization of mass spectrometry techniques coupled with advanced bioinformatics approaches has yielded informative biomarker signatures discriminating presence of cancer from unaffected in multiple studies from different groups. Validation and randomized outcome studies are needed to determine the true value of these new biomarkers in early diagnosis, and improved survival and quality of life.

Elise C. Kohn

Nilofer Azad

Christina Annunziata

Amit S. Dhamoon

Gordon Whiteley

Proteomics as a Tool for Biomarker Discovery

Nilsa C. Ramirez

Thomas J. Barr

David M. Billiter

Utilizing Virtual Microscopy for Quality Control Review

Despite advances in therapy, ovarian cancer remains the most deadly of the gynecological cancers. Less than 30&#x25; of women with advanced stage disease survive long-term. When diagnosed in stage I, up to 90&#x25; of patients can be cured with conventional surgery and chemotherapy. At present, only 25&#x25; of ovarian cancers are detected in stage I due, in part, to the absence of specific symptoms and to lack of an effective screening strategy. Early detection of ovarian cancer might significantly improve the overall survival rate of women with ovarian cancer if 1) most cancers are clonal and unifocal, arising in the ovary rather than in the peritoneum, 2) metastatic disease results from progression of clinically detectable stage I lesions, and 3) cancers remain localized for a sufficient interval to permit cost-effective screening. Given the prevalence of ovarian cancer, strategies for early detection must have high sensitivity for early stage disease (&#x3e; 75&#x25;), but must have extremely high specificity (99.6&#x25;) to attain a positive predictive value of at least 10&#x25;. Transvaginal sonography (TVS), serum markers and a combination of the two modalities have been evaluated for early detection of ovarian cancer. Among the serum markers, CA125 has received the most attention, but lacks the sensitivity or specificity to function alone as a screening test. Greater specificity can be achieved by combining CA125 and TVS and/or by monitoring CA125 over time. Two stage screening strategies promise to be cost effective, where abnormal serum assays prompt TVS to detect lesions that require laparotomy. Accrual has been completed for a 200,000 woman trial in the United Kingdom that will test the ability of a rising CA125 to trigger TVS and subsequent exploratory surgery. Given the heterogeneity of ovarian cancer, it is unlikely that any single marker will be sufficiently sensitive to provide an effective initial screen. Sensitivity of serum assays might be enhanced by utilizing a panel of biomarkers. Candidate biomarkers have been discovered through empirical development of monoclonal antibodies, studies of gene expression, cloning of gene families and proteomic techniques. The development of technologies that measure multiple serum markers simultaneously, linked to the creation of statistical methods that enhance sensitivity without sacrificing specificity hold great promise.

Donna Badgwell

Robert C. Bast Jr.

Early Detection of Ovarian Cancer

Phyllis A. Gimotty

Lin Zhang

Ioannis Alagkiozidis

Mark Cadungog

Sarah Adams

Christina Chu

Dionysios Katsaros

George Coukos

Immune Prognostic Factors in Ovarian Cancer: Lessons from Translational Research

Tumor development and progression are inherently dependent on the process of angiogenesis. Recently, anti-angiogenic therapy has started to show promise as an effective treatment strategy in many solid tumors including ovarian carcinoma. Unfortunately, lack of effective biomarkers presents a challenge for oncologists in treatment planning as well as monitoring response of new anti-vascular agents. Previously, quantification of angiogenesis by microvessel density analysis provided useful prognostic information, however, its utility following anti-angiogenic therapy remains to be determined. Moreover, since secreted cytokines play an active part in angiogenesis by mediating neovascularization in tumors, investigations have focused on their potential role to serve as candidate biomarkers of disease detection, prognosis, and treatment response. In this article, we review the role of key angiogenesis markers as potential biomarkers in ovarian carcinoma.

William M. Merritt

Anil K. Sood

Markers of Angiogenesis in Ovarian Cancer

Goli Samimi

Laurent Ozbun

Michael E. Johnson

Samuel C. Mok

Michael J. Birrer

Biomarkers of Mucinous Tumors of the Ovary

Members of the claudin family of tight junction proteins have been found altered in several malignancies, including ovarian cancer. Because claudin-3 and -4 are elevated in the vast majority of ovarian tumors, they may represent useful biomarkers for detection and prognosis, as well as ideal targets for therapy using the Clostridium perfringens enterotoxin.

Patrice J. Morin

Claudin Proteins in Ovarian Cancer

The role of serous tumors of low malignant potential (LMP) in the development of invasive epithelial cancer of the ovary is debatable. This review summarizes the current clinical, genetic, and genomic evidence for the existence of a continuum comprising both LMP serous tumors and low-grade serous ovarian carcinomas.

Kwong-Kwok Wong

David Gershenson

The Continuum of Serous Tumors of Low Malignant Potential and Low-Grade Serous Carcinomas of the Ovary

M. Birrer

Preface

John Farley

Cell Cycle and Related Protein

About this journal

Disease Markers publishes papers related to the identification of disease markers, the elucidation of their role and mechanism, as well as their application in the prognosis, diagnosis and treatment of diseases.

Journal profile

Meet the editorial board

Chief Editor Paola Gazzaniga is an Associate Professor in the Department of Molecular Medicine at Sapienza University of Rome, Italy. Her core research focuses on liquid biopsies in patients with solid tumors.

Editor spotlight

Submit your proposal

Do you think there is an emerging area of research that really needs to be highlighted? Or an existing research area that has been overlooked or would benefit from deeper investigation? Raise the profile of a research area by leading a Special Issue.

Special Issues

Author guidelines

Editorial board

Databases and indexing

title

Disease Markers publishes papers related to the identification of disease markers, the elucidation of their role and mechanism, as well as their application in the prognosis, diagnosis and treatment of diseases.

description

https://images.hindawi.com/journals/dm/dm.banner.jpg

twitter:card

twitter:description

twitter:site

twitter:title

twitter:url

twitter:image

Disease Markers | Hindawi

Disease Markers

This Issue is now open for submissions.
Papers are published upon acceptance, regardless of the Special Issue publication date.