"Gastric cancer is one of the most common malignancies in China. So far, there are few reliable serum biomarkers for diagnosis. The available biomarkers of CEA, CA19-9 and CA72-4 are not sufficiently sensitive and specific for gastric cancer. In this study, a high density antibody microarray was used for identifying new biomarkers from serum samples of gastric cancer. Serum samples from colorectal cancer, pancreatic cancer, hepatocellular cancer, and breast cancer were also screened for comparative study. As result, some candidate biomarkers were identified.

"Semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) have several photo-physical advantages over organic dyes making them good markers in biomedical application. We used CdSe/ZnS QDs with maximum emission wavelength of 590nm (QD590) linked to alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) monoclonal antibody (Ab) to detect AFP in cytoplasm of human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cell line HCCLM6. For the in vivo studies, we used QD-AFP-Ab probes for targeted imaging of human HCC xenograft growing in nude mice by injecting them into the tail vein.

"Current cancer biomarkers suffer from low diagnostic sensitivity and specificity and have not yet made a major impact on reducing cancer burden. Proteomic methods based on mass spectrometry have matured significantly over the past few years and hold promise to deliver candidate markers for diagnosis, prognosis or monitoring therapeutic response. Because of the complex nature of biological fluids such as plasma, biomarker discovery efforts using proteomics have not as yet delivered any novel tumor markers.

"Genitourinary (prostate, bladder, and kidney) cancers together comprise the most common type of human neoplasms. As a common feature to these types of malignancy, the disease is frequently asymptomatic at its earlier stages, when curative treatment is most likely to be successful. Moreover, available tests for genitourinary cancer screening (mostly directed to prostate cancer) are characterized by variable (usually low) sensitivity and specificity, preventing a consensual support for their routine use by the medical community.

"Dysregulated expression of microRNAs (miRNAs) in various tissues has been associated with a variety of diseases, including cancers. Here we demonstrate that miRNAs are present in the serum and plasma of humans and other animals such as mice, rats, bovine fetuses, calves, and horses. The levels of miRNAs in serum are stable, reproducible, and consistent among individuals of the same species. Employing Solexa, we sequenced all serum miRNAs of healthy Chinese subjects and found over 100 and 91 serum miRNAs in male and female subjects, respectively.

"ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Colorectal cancer is the second most common cause of cancer related death in the developed world. To date, no blood or stool biomarkers with both high sensitivity and specificity for potentially curable early stage disease have been validated for clinical use. SELDI and MALDI profiling are being used increasingly to search for biomarkers in both blood and urine. Both techniques provide information predominantly on the low molecular weight proteome (<15 kDa).

"BACKGROUND: Hypermethylation of the RASSF1A [Ras association (RalGDS/AF-6) domain family member 1A] gene is frequently observed in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). We evaluated the analysis of circulating hypermethylated RASSF1A for detecting HCC and assessing its prognosis. METHODS: In module 1, we studied 63 pairs of HCC patients and age- and sex-matched chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) carriers, as well as 50 healthy volunteers. In module 2, we studied 22 HCC patients with cancer detected through a surveillance program.

"BACKGROUND: New developments in the search for susceptibility alleles in complex disorders provide support for the possibility of a polygenic approach to the prevention and treatment of common diseases. METHODS: We examined the implications, both for individualized disease prevention and for public health policy, of findings concerning the risk of breast cancer that are based on common genetic variation. RESULTS: Our analysis suggests that the risk profile generated by the known, common, moderate-risk alleles does not provide sufficient discrimination to warrant individualized prevention.

"Early detection of colorectal cancer is a decisive step in the successful and complete cure of the disease. Epigenetic markers, in particular, those based on aberrant DNA methylation, can be used to diagnose cancer. B melanoma antigens (BAGE) are a family of genes and truncated genes located in the heterochromatic regions of several human chromosomes. Our previous work showed that BAGE loci (i.e., genes and truncated genes) were hypermethylated in normal tissues and hypomethylated in 98% of human cancers.

"The current protocols in place for bladder cancer screening are cystoscopy and urine cytology. Cytology does not have an adequate sensitivity in low-grade malignancy and has limited utility in the screening and management of bladder cancer patients. Urine tumor markers aimed at detection of cancer via voided urine are an attractive alternative to cytology. Currently, FDA-approved tumor marker assays lack the characteristics of an ideal test and have yet to revolutionize bladder cancer detection.