1. CANCER BIOMARKERS Scientist-Survivor Group 6 Mentor - Ginny Mason
Mentor - Dan Gallahan, PhD
Howard Brown
Vickie Buenger
Christine Hodgdon
Renee Miles-Foster
Kimberly Richardson
Marilyn Sapsford

2. HOW ARE BIOMARKERS USED IN CANCER TREATMENT?
Vital measurable functions universal to all people
Medium for finding biomarkers → Urine, blood, tissue, stool
Biomarkers can be used throughout the cancer care continuum

3. EXAMPLES OF EXCELLENT BIOMARKERS
Melanoma
High tumor mutation burden
V600E BRAF mutation
Prostate cancer
PSA
Androgen receptor (AR)
Colorectal cancer
CEA
Blood in stool
Colon polyps
Neuroblastoma
Catecholamine
To detect, monitor, predict treatment response
Medium for finding biomarkers → Urine, blood, tissue, stool

4. EXAMPLES OF EXCELLENT BIOMARKERS:
Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumor (GIST)
KIT
Ovarian cancer:
BRCA ½ mutations
Inhibin A/B
Lung cancer:
TILs, EGFR, ALK, KRAS, PD-1
Breast cancer:
HER2 amplification,
ER/PR+
BRCA ½ mutations

5. AN IDEAL BIOMARKER WILL HAVE THE ABILITY TO:
Be used via non-invasive & cost-effective techniques
Have non-toxic (minimally burdensome) effects
Detect disease early
Be accurate / precise / sensitive / specific
Impact a large portion of a diverse patient population over time
Non-invasive & cost-effective → Dog sniffing would be easier than a tissue biopsy
Non-toxic → Scans for monitoring the disease can cause secondary cancers because of exposure to radiation
Early detection → No reliable screening test for ovarian, pancreatic, pediatric cancers
Accuracy → Can answer accurately if cancer is present, and can be sensitive enough to determine classification of cancer and what treatments it will respond to.
Large impact → HER2 expression can predict treatment response, but only 20% of breast cancer patients are HER2+

6. TO IMPROVE THEIR SUCCESS, FUTURE BIOMARKERS MUST BE:
Rigorously tested
Adequate sample size (quantity, quality)
Reliable and replicable
Be constantly re-evaluated
Go beyond the traditional methods to mine big data
Computational, Machine learning, AI
Go beyond the traditional mediums
Performance status, Psychosocial changes, Immune system responses, Tumor microenvironment
Be rigorously tested to meet scientific standards
Adequate sample- size, quantity, quality, diversity
Reliable and replicable
Be constantly re-evaluated as technology & knowledge evolve
Go beyond the traditional methods to mine big data
Big data does not equal knowledge or meaning, it’s just data
Refine these techniques to identify more ideal biomarkers-->Computational learning / Machine learning / Artificial Intelligence
Go beyond the traditional mediums
Performance status, Psychosocial changes, Immune system responses, Tumor microenvironment, Pain, Cancer stem cells

7. Team Biomarker thanks you!
Our team’s research concluded that biomarkers will change the face of cancer treatment that saves lives.