Neuroendocrine Gene Transcripts: The Role of Molecular Biomarkers in Diagnosis and Management

Biomarkers as an entity broadly describe tools and technologies that can facilitate the prediction, cause, diagnosis, progression, regression, or outcome of treatment of disease. Their identification and measurement are used to evaluate and examine a number of processes including normal biological functions, pathological events, or pharmacologic responses to a therapeutic intervention. In general, biological markers (biomarkers) are considered “cellular, biochemical or molecular alterations that are measurable in biological media such as human tissues, cells, or fluids” [1]. Although the majority of previous biomarkers have assessed cell surface or secreted proteins, the current focus has been on the identification of “candidate” biomarkers expressed in the nucleus or cytoplasm. At present, there is limited data on this group, and not all of the putative markers are clinical accessible.