What could become a revolution in cancer detection: detection by means of biomarkers - blood proteins that can detect the existence of a mere handful of malignant cells in someone's body. They have the potential to reveal certain cancers much earlier than current screening tests.
Newly Discovered Protein - MCPIP - Could Hold Key to Preventing Heartdisease
Biomarker is an occasionally-used synonym for biosignature, which is a term used in astrobiology to indicate "a measurable phenomenon that indicates the presence of life."
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In medicine, biomarkers are indicators of a particular
disease state or a particular state of an organism. In the
past, biomarkers were primarily physiological indicators
such as blood pressure or heart rate.
More recently,
biomarkers has drifted toward being a synonym for molecular
biomarker, such as elevated prostate specific antigen as a
molecular biomarker for prostate cancer.
Business Week February 2006
Blood Will Tell
How much do you really want to know about
your health? If the answer is everything, and fast,
consider a $3,400 blood test. Biophysical Corp. in Austin,
Tex., hopes its Biophysical250 will undercut blue-chip
executive physicals popularized by such institutions as
the Mayo Clinic. A health-care worker comes to your home
to draw about two tablespoons of blood. It is scoured for
more than 250 protein biomarkers that signal the
presence of disease or disease risk factors. Results come
back in about two weeks. The test doesn't cover diseases
for which there is no cure, such as Huntington's, multiple
sclerosis, and Lou Gehrig's. For that depressing verdict,
you'll have to ask your doctor.-Catherine Arnst
Despite the growing enthusiasm for biomarkers, their identification, validation, and use for drug discovery and development are still in their early stages. The difficulty and cost of characterizing and validating and/or qualifying new biomarkers have hampered rapid development in this field. To date, biomarker development has not yet improved pharmaceutical productivity.