New markers for cancer detection

Circulating tumor nucleic acids in blood have been demonstrated to reflect the biologic characteristics of tumors. During tumor progression, aberrant DNA methylation can lead to transcriptional silencing of tumor suppressor genes, DNA repair genes, and metastasis-inhibitor genes. Hypermethylation of multiple genes, detectable in the blood of cancer patients, has demonstrated increasing promise as a specific and sensitive molecular marker for detecting and monitoring cancer. In addition to these epigenetic markers, a number of mRNA markers may also enable cancer detection in the blood of patients with different cancer types. Quantification of circulating tumor cell mRNAs in cancer patients appears to be useful for monitoring cancer progression and response to treatment. DNA methylation markers and mRNA markers in the blood may open up diagnostic and prognostic possibilities.