ALCAM and BCAM: Two New Breast Cancer Biomarkers

描述（由申请人提供）：乳腺癌是影响全世界数百万妇女的主要健康问题。对抗乳腺癌的方法之一是早期诊断和有效治疗。对于那些在晚期诊断出疾病的患者，准确监测以评估对治疗的反应是重要的。不幸的是，到目前为止，由于缺乏高质量的血液生物标志物，没有有效的方法来诊断或监测乳腺癌。在这项拨款申请中，我们的目标是验证两种新发现的候选乳腺癌生物标志物。我们将使用治疗前收集的样本（用于诊断应用）和多年来治疗期间收集的样本（用于监测治疗反应的应用）。我们的初步数据表明，这些新发现的生物标志物比传统的和市售的乳腺癌生物标志物CA15.3表现更好。如果我们的结果是有希望的，它们可能会为乳腺癌的早期诊断带来新的方法，并为那些接受化疗或其他治疗方案的患者提供更好的监测。我们的阳性数据可能会改善乳腺癌的诊断和监测方式，最终目标是延长患者的生存时间，提高生活质量。公共卫生相关性：我们最近发现了两个新的乳腺癌生物标志物。我们的初步数据是非常有希望的，关于使用这些生物标志物进行乳腺癌的早期诊断和监测疾病晚期并接受各种方式治疗的患者。如果我们取得成功，这两种新的生物标志物可能在提高早期乳腺癌的诊断和优化已经患有这种疾病的患者的治疗方案方面发挥重要作用。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Breast cancer is a major health problem affecting millions of women worldwide. One of the ways to combat breast cancer is by early diagnosis and administration of effective therapy. For those patients whose disease is diagnosed at a late stage, accurate monitoring for assessing response to treatment is important. Unfortunately, until now, there is no effective means for diagnosing breast cancer or for monitoring, due to the lack of high-quality blood-based biomarkers. In this grant application, our aim is to validate two newly discovered candidate breast cancer biomarkers. We will use samples that have been collected before treatment [for the diagnostic application] and samples that have been collected during therapy, over many years [for the application of monitoring response to therapy]. Our preliminary data indicate that these newly discovered biomarkers perform better than the classical and commercially available breast cancer biomarker, CA15.3. If our results are promising, they may lead to new ways for early diagnosis of breast cancer and for better monitoring of those patients who are treated with chemotherapy or other regimens. Our positive data may improve the way breast cancer is diagnosed and monitored, with the ultimate goal of extending patient survival and improve quality of life. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: We have recently discovered two new breast cancer biomarkers. Our preliminary data are highly promising, regarding use of these biomarkers for early diagnosis of breast cancer and for monitoring patients who have advanced disease and are treated with various modalities. If we are successful, these two new novel biomarkers may play a major role in improving the diagnosis of early breast cancer and in optimizing therapeutic regimens of patients who already have the disease.