Cancer biomarkers evaluation

Bio-Rad Laboratories has released a technical note (tech note 5654A) describing the study of an evaluation of cancer biomarkers. In the study, Bio-Rad researchers evaluated the Bio-Plex suspension array system’s ability to detect the levels of nine biomarkers, which were selected for their potential clinical relevance to cancer development. The nine biomarkers: angiopoietin-2 (Ang-2), VEGF, PDGF-BB, leptin, PECAM-1, IL-8, follistatin, HGF and G-CSF were collected in sera from four different types of cancer patients.

Preliminary analysis of different cancer samples showed statistically significant elevation of eight of the nine biomarkers studied, suggesting the importance of these markers as key regulators of angiogenesis. The reduction of the levels of leptin and PECAM-1 also provided interesting insight into the modulation of these markers in associated cancers.

The study demonstrated that the Bio-Plex system is capable of measuring the levels of multiple targets simultaneously in less than two hours, using as little as 12.5 µL of serum, plasma and other matrices. This feature significantly reduces the time and cost spent on preliminary screening of serum samples for biomarker profiling. In addition, the assays used were proven to be specific, sensitive and reproducible. The Bio-Plex system also provided a broad range for measurements, which could be utilised depending on specific sensitivity requirements.