Biomarker testing is a way to look for genes, proteins, and other substances (called biomarkers or tumor markers) that can provide information about cancer. Each person’s cancer has a unique pattern of biomarkers. Some biomarkers affect how certain cancer treatments work. Biomarker testing may help you and your doctor choose a cancer treatment for you.

There are also other kinds of biomarkers that can help doctors diagnose and monitor cancer during and after treatment. Till now, Biomarker testing was for people who have cancer. However, with evolution of technology, certain biomarker tests are now available to detect and diagnose cancer proactively. A few popular biomarker tests are BRCA1 & BRCA2 for cancer. 

Biomarker testing for cancer treatment may constitute:

• Histology, cytology, pathology, 
• Tumor testing & tumor subtyping 
• Tumor genetic testing 
• Genomic testing or genomic profiling
• Molecular testing or molecular profiling 
• Somatic testing 

In the 1970s, scientists made a fascinating and promising discovery. They found a protein called tumor necrosis factor, or TNF. The body makes TNF as part of an immune response to foreign organisms in the body, including bacteria and tumor cells. 

It was found that TNF can block the growth of these tumors and in some cases it can even produce a complete cure from these cancers. That created a lot of excitement and interest in trying to develop TNF as a therapeutic agent for cancer.

Although activity that induced tumor regression was observed and termed tumor necrosis factor (TNF), the true identity of TNF was not clear until 1984, when the isolation of 2 cytotoxic factors came to be called TNF-α and TNF-β. Identification of the protein sequences led to cloning of their cDNA. Based on sequence homology to TNF, now a total of 19+ members of the TNF superfamily have been identified, along with 29+ interacting receptors, and several molecules that interact with the cytoplasmic domain of these receptors. 

The roles of the TNF superfamily in inflammation, apoptosis, proliferation, invasion, angiogenesis, carcinogenicity, metastasis, and morphogenesis have been documented. Their roles in immunologic, cardiovascular, neurologic, pulmonary, and metabolic diseases are becoming apparent. TNF superfamily members are active targets for drug development, as indicated by the recent approval and expanding market of TNF blockers used to treat rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, Crohns disease, osteoporosis, and recently cancer, with a total market of more than US $45 billion.

Some members of the TNF superfamily have also been reported to play a role in morphogenetic changes and differentiation. Most members of the TNF superfamily have both beneficial and potentially harmful effects. Although TNF-α, for example, has been linked with physiologic proliferation and differentiation of B cells under steady-state conditions, it also has been linked with a wide variety of diseases, including cancer, cardiovascular, neurologic, pulmonary, autoimmune, and metabolic disorders.

In spite of all the scientific developments and research, 10 million people die across the globe every year, due to cancer, about a million in India alone. The main cause of high mortality in cancer patients is the delayed diagnosis of the disease, which is silent in nature until it is already too late. Though we are now equipped with multiple treatment options and plethora of drugs to control and/or cure various cancers, the major setback remains the timely diagnosis of cancer, to reduce subsequent complications, metastasis and mortality in patients.

The search for effective predictive biomarkers for cancer have lead to genetic testing and genomic profiling over the last decade. It has lead to development of several genetic tests that indicate the probability of cancer quite early than its actual onset in the body tissues. These tests are highly remarkable as they offer a way to know about this deadly disease proactively, and treat early for better prognosis and longetivity.

For example, BRCA1 & BRCA2 Inherited Genes. People who inherit harmful variants in one of these genes have increased risks of several cancers—most notably breast and ovarian cancer, but also several additional types of cancer. People who have inherited a harmful variant in BRCA1 and BRCA2 also tend to develop cancer at younger ages than people who do not have such a variant. 

Our team of researchers have now found linkages between various genetic modifications/ mutations during the lifetime of a person, owing to the altered autoimmune host response and several types of cancer. Autoimmune Sequence Genes, AS Genes or ASG Analysis can predict probability of future cancer as well as probability of transmission of cancer genes from parents to off springs. More than 100 scientists have worked relentlessly for over 13 years to find a set of 17 genes that undergo 74 different set of mutations, that start to appear in a person’s DNA, long before the development of any symptoms of active cancer. 

ASG Analysis is a simple test using oral swab of the patient that can predict the probability of future cancer. This can offer the physician an opportunity to early detect, avert, reverse or treat a cancer for long life expectancy of the patient. Read More