A team of researchers from the University of Alberta, Canada, has demonstrated that applying intense ultrasound—at levels much higher than used for imagining—can cause the release of biomarkers from cells, allowing for earlier detection of cancer via liquid biopsy. Their work was presented today at the Acoustical Society of America…

By Dan Rhodes, PhD, Co-Founder & CEO, Strata Oncology Sponsored content brought to you by At Strata Oncology, we won’t rest until every patient with cancer gets their best possible therapy. Our approach to achieving this audacious goal is to develop innovative, highly quantitative, DNA- and RNA-based multivariate predictive treatment…

Researchers in Japan report that they have developed a method for detecting miRNA expression patterns from a patient’s blood sample using a nanopore-based DNA computing technology. The findings were published in the journal JACS Au in the paper, “Pattern Recognition of microRNA Expression in Body Fluids Using Nanopore Decoding at Subfemtomolar Concentrations.”…

New findings from researchers at Dartmouth College have cemented the long-held understanding of the interactions between genes and smoking, underscoring the fundamental role smoking plays in the etiology of lung cancer. In the new study “Genome-Wide Interaction Study of Smoking Behavior and Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Risk in Caucasian Population”…

Oxford Cancer Biomarkers (OCB) has licensed three in vitro diagnostic tests for colorectal cancer to My-BioMed Biotechnology (MBM), through a partnership that will expand use of the tests into China. The value of the collaboration was not disclosed. MBM has gained rights to OCB’s ColoTox, ColoProg, and ColoPredict tests, and…

Two years after his wife, the mother of his twin sons, died of colorectal cancer at age 36, Billy Boyle is leading a Cambridge, U.K.-based diagnostics developer in launching a 1,400-patient clinical trial to assess the accuracy of its diagnostic technology in detecting the disease early, from samples of breath…

A team of investigators at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) recently published data that identified and validated an accurate 5-gene classifier for discriminating early pancreatic cancer from nonmalignant tissue—a finding that is a promising advance for the fourth leading cause of cancer death in the United States. “Pancreatic cancer…

GenomeDx Biosciences reported that its commercially available Decipher® testing platform identified, with statistical significance, a set of prostate cancer biomarkers predictive of aggressive disease in African American men after radical prostate surgery. This represents the first and only study describing a set of genomic markers that have the ability to…

Qiagen has acquired an exclusive global license from the University of Tokyo for the biomarker SF3B1. The company said it sees potential for developing companion diagnostics to guide myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) treatment with new anticancer compounds under development that target the SF3B1 gene. Mutations of this gene, which Qiagen said…

Lung adenocarcinoma is the most common form of lung cancer in the world, and genetic markers are needed to help predict the prognosis of this disease and improve treatment outcomes. Using gene databases and patient data, a team from the Tongji Medical School and the Huazhong University of Science and…

In oncology, biomarkers play a range of crucial roles in many applications, from early detection and diagnosis to treatment options and efficacy. Nonetheless, biomarkers can be elusive, especially at their often-low levels. Still, scientists around the world search for new tools to take on the biomarker challenges, driven by the…

City of Hope researchers have identified four metabolism-related biomarkers that may be associated with an increased risk for metastatic prostate cancer in men of West African heritage and could one day be incorporated into a disease prediction tool for this high-risk population. “We hope that our findings can become part…

A multiclass, machine learning-generated, model using microRNA (miRNA) expression profiles that can point to highly specific cancer types has been created by researchers from Florida Atlantic University (FAU)’s College of Engineering and Computer Science. Their study, published in the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers’ journal IEEE Xplore, suggests that miRNAs may be highly…

New findings from researchers at Nagoya University in Japan have revealed new potential biomarkers for ovarian cancer found in extracellular vesicles (EVs). The three previously unknown membrane proteins in extracellular vesicles (EVs) derived from high-grade serous ovarian carcinoma (HGSOC), a deadly subtype of epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC). The group used…

Research led by the University of California Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center shows that elevated levels of biomarkers for both bone loss and bone formation are significant indicators of overall survival in men with hormone-sensitive prostate cancer. Previous studies have demonstrated that bone biomarkers are strong predictors of overall survival in…