Hidetaka Yokoe, Masashi Shiiba, Hiroki Bukawa, Katsuhiro Uzawa, Hideki Tanzawa
Biotherapy 20(6) 619-624 2006年11月
Molecular markers for cancer have many clinical applications, including prediction of carcinogenesis of a pre-malignant lesion, detection of early cancer, qualitative evaluation of cancer malignancy associated with prognosis, micro-metastasis, and invasion, along with estimation of the effect of chemotherapy and/or radiation therapy. Microarray and proteomic technologies provide excellent tools for rapid screening of a large number of biomarkers in malignant cells. Since analyses using those technologies often yield confusing results due to accidental errors, their results must be confirmed by real-time PCR, western blotting, and immunohistochemical staining. Many genes have been detected with differential expression in malignant tumors, compared to normal tissues. Those candidates for molecular marker play various roles in the cell, and the expression status suggests the oncogenetic process. However, only a few of them are qualified as clinically useful markers.