Biomarker News and Research

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A biomarker is a biological molecule found in blood, other body fluids, or tissues that is a sign of a normal or abnormal process, or of a condition or disease. A biomarker may be used to see how well the body responds to a treatment for a disease or condition. Also called molecular marker and signature molecule.

Secondhand smoke continues to take a grievous toll on nonsmokers

Secondhand smoke is accountable for 42,000 deaths annually to nonsmokers in the United States, including nearly 900 infants, according to a new UCSF study.

21 Sep 2012

MD Anderson introduces Moon Shots Program to reduce cancer deaths

The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center announces the launch of the Moon Shots Program, an unprecedented effort to dramatically accelerate the pace of converting scientific discoveries into clinical advances that reduce cancer deaths.

21 Sep 2012

Strand Life Sciences to validate and commercialize Trovagene's urine-based HPV test

Trovagene, Inc. and Strand Life Sciences Pvt Ltd., of Bangalore, India, completed their agreement to validate and commercialize Trovagene's proprietary urine-based Human Papillomavirus (HPV) test for clinical diagnostic and carrier screening use.

21 Sep 2012

Systems biologist to pursue research into next-generation genome sequencing technology

Systems biologist Edward Marcotte has received a $2.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to pursue cutting-edge research in the area of genome sequencing technology.

21 Sep 2012

Daily use of inhaled steroid may not be essential in mild asthma patients

Individuals with mild-to-moderate asthma who use inhaled corticosteroids only when symptomatic can achieve the same level of symptom control as those who use the drug daily, study results show.

18 Sep 2012

VTT, GE Healthcare enter collaboration for AD research

Scientists from VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland in collaboration with the University of Eastern Finland have recently discovered a serum biochemical signature which predicts progression to Alzheimer's disease months or even years before the first symptoms of the disease occur. The goal of the new collaboration between VTT and GE Healthcare is to validate this biomarker in a large patient cohort as well as to discover novel biomarker candidates.

17 Sep 2012

Pancreatic trigs trigger diabetes

Researchers have found that pancreatic triglycerides provide a novel biomarker for pancreatic β-cell dysfunction that can be used to identify individuals at risk for Type 2 diabetes, particularly among people of Hispanic origin.

14 Sep 2012

Gefitinib shows promise in Chinese lung cancer patients

Gefitinib improves progression-free survival, overall response, and health-related quality of life over carboplatin/paclitaxel for first-line advanced non-small-cell lung cancer treatment, a study indicates.

13 Sep 2012

Addition of sorafenib to chemotherapy does not prolong survival

The addition of sorafenib to gemcitabine/cisplatin fails to provide any additional benefit in chemotherapy-naïve patients with nonsquamous non-small-cell lung cancer, research shows.

13 Sep 2012

Changes in physical characteristics of regulatory T cell can predict MDS progression risk

Researchers at Moffitt Cancer Center and colleagues have discovered that changes in the physical characteristics of the effector memory regulatory T cell can predict the progression risk of myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) to acute myeloid leukemia. The finding could improve prognostication for patients with MDS and better inform therapeutic decision making.

13 Sep 2012

Plasma biomarker predicts rheumatoid arthritis onset

Healthy individuals with high levels of immunoglobulin G rheumatoid factor have a significantly increased risk for developing rheumatoid arthritis, suggests population-based research published in the BMJ.

10 Sep 2012

AB SCIEX launches Eksigent ekspert nanoLC 400 system

AB SCIEX, a global leader in life science analytical technologies, today announced the launch of the Eksigent ekspert nanoLC 400 system.

10 Sep 2012

Strategic roadmap to help cope with impending Alzheimer's disease public health crisis

This week, a strategic roadmap to help to the nation's health care system cope with the impending public health crisis caused Alzheimer's disease and related dementia will be published in Alzheimer's & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer's Association.

7 Sep 2012

Boston researchers develop neonatal mouse model of sepsis

Sepsis, or bacterial infection of the bloodstream, is a grave, hard-to-diagnose threat in premature newborns in the NICU. Even when it's detected and treated with antibiotics, its inflammatory effects can harm fragile babies' development. Now, researchers at Boston Children's Hospital have modeled the effects of sepsis on the unique newborn immune system, using mice.

7 Sep 2012

Ingenuity Systems, ShanghaiBio sign collaboration agreement

ShanghaiBio Corporation and Ingenuity Systems have signed a collaboration agreement enabling ShanghaiBio Corporation to extend its current lab service offering to include Ingenuity solutions for downstream analysis and interpretation of genomics data. ShanghaiBio Corporation will complement their sequencing, genotyping and gene expression lab services by creating a bundled solution with Ingenuity's applications, which combine analytics and biomedical content to help get actionable insights from experiments.

6 Sep 2012

Exposure to phthalates increases risk of asthma-related airway inflammation in children

Children exposed to diethyl phthalate (DEP) and butylbenzyl phthalate (BBzP)-phthalate chemicals commonly found in personal care and plastic products-have elevated risk of asthma-related airway inflammation, according to researchers at Columbia Center for Children's Environmental Health (CCCEH) at the Mailman School of Public Health.

6 Sep 2012

Biomarker predicts temsirolimus benefit in renal cancer

In patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma, the biomarker serum lactate dehydrogenase is both prognostic for survival and predictive for the survival benefit conferred by the TORC1 inhibitor temsirolimus, research shows.

5 Sep 2012

Study evaluates prognostic utility of novel biomarkers of cardiovascular stress

Critical Diagnostics announced today, Circulation, an American Heart Association Journal, released online the first study evaluating the power of ST2 to predict development of heart failure and other adverse outcomes in the general population titled, "Prognostic Utility of Novel Biomarkers of Cardiovascular Stress: The Framingham Heart Study".

5 Sep 2012

Fusion-negative prostate tumours display more aberrant DNA methylations

In about half of all prostate tumours, there are two genetic areas that are fused with one another. When this is not the case, the exact way cancer cells originate in prostate tumours was not clear until now.

5 Sep 2012

Scientists identify master regulator essential for progression and relapse of deadly brain cancer

A*STAR scientists have identified a biomarker of the most lethal form of brain tumours in adults- glioblastoma multiforme. The scientists found that by targeting this biomarker and depleting it with a potential drug, they were able to prevent the progression and relapse of the brain tumour.

5 Sep 2012