Articles related to BIOMARKERS

In statistical models, neurofilament light chain (Nlf) levels exhibited weaker connections with progression independent of relapse activity (PIRA)—”silent progression”—risk, while glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) levels indicated very significant associations. Further models revealed that, whereas high NfL levels were linked to an approximately doubled risk of disability worsening, high levels of GFAP were associated with a nearly threefold higher risk of disability worsening. In contrast to low levels of both proteins, high levels of GFAP and NfL were linked to a more than fourfold probability of disease deterioration. Overall, the data, according to the researchers, support NfL as a biomarker of relapse activity and GFAP as a useful biomarker for predicting the likelihood of PIRA. The analysis of both markers provides “complete coverage of biological mechanisms contributing to disability worsening” as a result.

Biomarkers may be used in the dementias to distinguish different aspects of the underlying pathology, detect presymptomatic pathological changes, predict decline or conversion between clinical disease states, and/or monitor disease progression and response to treatment. In this review, the authors discuss the currently available biomarkers, with a particular focus on the three most common neurodegenerative dementias: Alzheimer’s disease (AD), frontotemporal dementia (FTD), and dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB).

The authors determined the prognostic significance of CTC enumeration and the evolution of both CTC enumeration and the HP ratio over time in the largest longitudinal CTC study in mRCC to date. Potential biomarkers to predict and track response to immunotherapy in mRCC are provided by these insights into changes in both tumor burden and the molecular profile of tumor cells in response to various treatments.

A Narrative Review Liquid biopsy is increasingly being used clinically in advanced lung cancer, according to this review, and ongoing research is identifying applications of circulating tumor DNA-based testing that complement tissue analysis across a wide range of clinical settings. At many stages of the patient’s oncologic journey, circulating tumor DNA technologies are demonstrating potential benefits for patients, health care practitioners, health care systems, and researchers.

A Q&A with John N. Allan, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of Hematology and Medical Oncology at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York, who discusses the changing role of prognostic markers, the usefulness of the markers, the biomarkers that should be part of standard testing, when patients should be tested, and much more.

The authors engaged in research to attempt to identify circulating biomarkers for pancreatic NETs, to improve tumor surveillance and quality of life. They examined the expression of circulating miRNA in the serum of MEN1 patients and found an inverse relationship between miR-3156-5p and MORF4L2 expression, representing a potential serum biomarker that could facilitate the detection of NET occurrence in MEN1 patients.