Emanuel F. “Chip” Petricoin III, PhD, Co-Director, Center for Applied Proteomics & Molecular Medicine, Professor of Life Sciences, George Mason University, discusses the discovery of new biomarkers in breast cancer.

There have been many large, publicly-funded biomarker discovery efforts, Petricoin says. The National Cancer Institute (NCI) has increase its effort to more methodically develop, discover, evaluate, and validate biomarkers. The process has been supported by the fact that many of these biomarkers have been approved by the FDA.

The NCI has also developed biomarkers that have translated well from the clinical to commercial setting in imaging, high-risk population screening, and recurrence monitoring.

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Emanuel F. "Chip" Petricoin III, PhD, Co-Director, Center for Applied Proteomics & Molecular Medicine, Professor of Life Sciences, George Mason University, discusses the discovery of new biomarkers in breast cancer.

Chip Petricoin on the Discovery of New Biomarkers

Emanuel F. Petricoin III, PhD, Co-Director, Center for Applied Proteomics & Molecular Medicine, Professor of Life Sciences, George Mason University, discusses disease screening with biomarkers.

Research is constantly being conducted for new biomarkers, especially for use in detection and predictive value for screening and imaging. Biomarkers can also enhance recurrence monitoring and help to understand treatment efficacy in patients with advanced disease, according to Petricoin.

Most research looks at biomarkers in general population screening but many recently-approved biomarkers for recurrence monitoring have been used for disease.

Emanuel Petricoin Describes Screening With Biomarkers

Emanuel F. Petricoin III, PhD, Co-Director, Center for Applied Proteomics & Molecular Medicine, Professor of Life Sciences, George Mason University, discusses tumor heterogeneity in patients with breast cancer.

Reports of tumor heterogeneity within patients suggest that different biopsies present different information to a patient or physician.

There are new trials however looking at signaling architecture with relation to tumor heterogeneity. These trials have shown that signaling architecture is more stable than the genomic profile, which is beneficial from a functional standpoint.

Emanuel Petricoin Discusses Tumor Heterogeneity

Emanuel "Chip" Petricoin III, PhD, Co-Director, Center for Applied Proteomics & Molecular Medicine, Professor of Life Sciences, George Mason University, discusses the inability of DNA and RNA profiling to predict response to treatment with targeted therapies.

One major problem with translating transcript profiling and genomic profiling to clinical use in the era of personalized medicine, Petricoin says, is that almost all experimental therapeutic agents and many FDA-approved drugs act at the level of the protein, inhibiting or modulating activity. To address this, researcher examined the relationship between DNA, RNA, and protein expression.

After much research, data shows that measuring DNA and RNA does not predict protein expression, levels, or activity. If targeted agents work by modulating protein activity, Petricoin says, then DNA and RNA cannot predict the agents' efficacy, since they are unable to predict protein expression. In general, this highlights the need to look at the drug target itself for prediction.

Emanuel "Chip" Petricoin III, PhD, from George Mason University, discusses the inability of DNA and RNA profiling to predict response to treatment with targeted therapies.

Emanuel F. Petricoin, III, PhD

Articles

Chip Petricoin on the Discovery of New Biomarkers

Emanuel Petricoin Describes Screening With Biomarkers

Emanuel Petricoin Discusses Tumor Heterogeneity

Emanuel Petricoin on Genomic Profiling and Targeted Therapy