Most investigators agree that early detection increases the likelihood of a positive response to a given therapeutic intervention in cancer. Biomarkers are a necessary prerequisite for early detection. A healthcare provider needs some clue that cancer is likely to develop. More importantly, they need to know that the selected therapeutic intervention will be effective. It is no surprise then, that much of the work presented at the 2017 American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) was focused on discovering and validating novel cancer biomarkers.
Mahoney and Atkins describe four types of cancer biomarkers: diagnostic,...