If there is gold in the labeling index hills, are we digging in the right place?

Surrogate endpoint biomarkers (SEBs) are a necessary tool for cancer chemoprevention studies. However, the efficiency gain from using an SEB is purchased at a price. SEBs need to go through a developmental process, in which their behavior is understood in detail, before they can be used broadly in chemoprevention work. Examples of problems that need to be overcome are presented for labeling indices of cell proliferation. Since literature-based meta-analyses are not feasible for SEBs, a data archive is proposed in order to strengthen the development phase by pooling data across studies.