New studies may show how cancer spreads throughout the body

A diagnosed cancer patient does not die based on the result of an initial tumor diagnosis. In many cases, the fatality of the cancer increases as a result of metastatic disease.

Metastasis is the spread of disease from one organ to another organ. In this case, a pancreatic cancer patient may die due to multiple organ failure once the cancer has spread and caused serious damage to the entire body.

Identifying biomarkers for cancer that may determine tumor activity would present a wide array of clinical benefits.

A team of researchers headed by Dr. Peng Loh of the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda and Dr. Ronnie Poon of the University of Hong Kong, China has presently recognized a possible biomarker to predict the future of metastasis. Their study currently involved biomarking for the most common form of liver cancer, hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

The research team has established that quantification of the messenger ribonucleic acids (mRNA) from samples of protein carboxypeptidase E (CPE) from HCC patients can forecast intrahepatic metastasis with high specificity and sensitivity. It was suggested that these protein samples may be used as biomarkers by doctors and oncologists to predict metastatic activities in their patients with HCC.

The method developed would now aid clinicians in their therapeutic decisions.