Personalised Cancer Treatment: Known Markers in Treatment

Personalised cancer treatment – known markers and what they mean for treatment

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Known markers and what they mean for treatment

Overview

Drug target markers

Diagnostic and prognostic markers

Meta description

Keywords

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Known markers and what they mean for treatment
Overview

Personalised, targeted and hormonal treatments all depend on genetic mutations that can be identified in cancer cells to be effective. These mutations are sometimes referred to as “markers”. The markers can manifest through over-expression, lack of expression or mutated expression of specific proteins.

Some markers can be targeted using specific treatments whereas some can act as measurements for disease diagnosis, prognosis and treatment response.

Drug target markers

The genes listed below have all been associated in cancer, the majority of which can also be treated.

Known marker

Cancers they’re associated with / may benefit from targeted therapy

Related treatment/response to treatment

ALK[EB1] – anaplastic lymphoma kinase (*)

Anaplastic large-cell lymphoma
Familial neuroblastoma (nerve cell)
Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC)
Crizotinib (Xalkori®)
Pemetrexed (Alimta®)

AR – androgen receptor

Bladder
Breast
NSCLC
Ovarian
Prostate
Abarelix (Plenaxis®)
Bicalutamide (Casodex®)
Flutamide (Eulexin®)
Gonadorelin (Factrel®)
Goserelin (Zoladex®)
Leuprolide (Lupron®)

BRAF – v-raf murine sarcoma viral oncogene homolog B1

Colon
Lung
Melanoma (skin)
Nervous system
Thyroid
Cetuximab (Erbitux®)
Panitumumab (Vectibix®)
Vemurafenib (Zelboraf®)

BRCA1 – breast cancer susceptibility gene 1

Breast
Lung
Ovarian
Cisplatin (Platinol®)
Prophylactic surgery (prevention)

BRCA2 – breast cancer susceptibility gene 2

Breast
Ovarian
Tamoxifen (Nolvadex®)
Prophylactic surgery (prevention)

c-Kit/CD117/SCFR – mast stem cell factor receptor (*)

Acute myelogenous leukemia (AML)
Gastrointestinal stromal tumour (GIST)
Melanoma
Imatinib (Gleevec®)
Sorafenib (Nexavar®)
Sunitinib (Sutent®)

c-MET/HGFR – mesenchymal epithelial transition factor/hepatocyte growth factor receptor

NSCLC
Ovarian
Erlotinib (Tarceva®)
Gefitinib (Iressa®)

COX-2/PTGS2 – cyclooxygenase-2/ prostaglandin-endoperoxide synthase-2

NSCLC
Celecoxib (Celebrex®)

EGFR/ErbB-1/HER1 – epidermal growth factor receptor (*)

NSCLC
Cetuximab (Erbitux®)
Erlotinib (Tarceva®)
Gefitinib (Iressa®)
Panitumumab (Vectibix®)

ER – oestrogen receptor (*)

Breast
Female reproductive tract (cervical, fallopian, ovarian, uterine)
Anastrazole (Arimidex®)
Exemestane (Aromasin®)
Fulvestrant (Faslodex®)
Goserelin (Zoladex®)
Letrozole (Femara®)
Leuprolide (Eligard®, Lupron®, Viadur®)
Medroxyprogesterone, (Provera®, Amen®, Curretab®, Cycrin®)
Megestrol acetate (Megace®, Megace® ES)
Tamoxifen (Nolvadex®)
Toremifene (Fareston®)

ERCC1 – excision repair cross-complementation group 1

Bladder
Colorectal
Gastric
Lung (NSCLC and SCLC)
Ovarian
Carboplatin (Paraplatin®)
Oxaliplatin (Eloxatin®)

HER2/HER2neu/ErbB-2 – human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (*)

Breast
Colorectal
Gastric
Gastroesophageal
Ovarian
Doxorubicin (Adriamycin®, Rubex®)
Epirubicin (Ellence®)
Lapatinib (Tykerb®)
Liposomal doxorubicin (Caelyx®, Myocet®),
Trastuzumab (Herceptin®)

KRAS – Kirsten murine sarcoma virus (*)

Colon
NSCLC
Pancreatic
Cetuximab (Erbitux®)
Erlotinib (Tarceva®)
Gefitinib (Iressa®)
Panitumumab (Vectibix®)

MGMT – O-6-methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase

Breast
Glioblastoma multiforme (brain)
Melanoma
NSCLC
Oesophageal
Oligodendrogliomas
Pituitary gland carcinoma
Resistant to temozolomide (Temodar®)

MRP1 – multidrug resistance-associated protein 1

Breast
Head and neck
Lymphoma
Resistant to doxorubicin (Adrimycin®), vinca alkaloids, methotrexate (Trexall®)

PGP – p-glycoprotein

Breast
Head and neck
Lymphoma
Ovarian
Resistant to doxorubicin (Adriamycin®), epirubicin (Ellence®), liposomal-doxorubicin (Doxil®), paclitaxel (Taxol®), docetaxel (Taxotere®), vinblastine (Velban®), vincristine (Oncovin®), vinorelbine (Navelbine®)

PIK3CA? – phosphatidylinositol-4,5-bisphosphate 3-kinase, catalytic subunit alpha

Breast
Colorectal
Gastric
Glioblastoma
Lung
Ovarian
Lapatinib (Tykerb®)
Resistant to cetuximab (Erbitux®), panitumumab (Vectibix)
Decreased response to trastuzumab (Herceptin®)

PR – progesterone receptor (*)

Breast
Female genital tract cancer
Ovarian
Anastrozole (Arimidex®)
Exemestane (Aromasin®)
Foremifene (Fareston®)
Fulvestrant (Faslodex®)
Gonadorelin (Factrel®)
Goserelin (Zoladex®)
Letrozole (Femara®)
Leuprolide (Eligard®, Lupron®, Viadur®)
Medroxyprogesterone (Provera®, Amen®, Curretab®, Cycrin®)
Megestrol acetate (Megace®, Megace® ES)
Tamoxifen (Nolvadex®)

PTEN – phosphatase and tensin homolog

Breast
Colon
Glioblastoma
Head and neck
NSCLC
Resistant to cetuximab (Erbitux®), erlotinib (Tarceva®), gefitinib (Iressa®), panitumumab (Vectibix®), trastuzumab (Herceptin®)

RRM1– ribonucleotide reductase subunit M1

NSCLC
Pancreatic
Decreased response to gemcitabine (Gemzar®), hydroxyurea (Hydrea®, Droxia®)

SPARC – secreted protein acidic rich in cysteine

Breast
Gastric
Head and neck
Melanoma
Pancreatic
Albumin-bound paclitaxel/nab-paclitaxel (Abraxane®)

TLE3 – transducin-like enhancer of split

Breast
Ovarian
Docetaxel (Taxotere ®)
Paclitaxel (Taxol®),

TOPO2? – topoisomerase II?

Breast
Colon
SCLC
Ovarian
Doxorubicin (Adriamycin®)
Epirubicin (Ellence®, Pharmorubucin®)
Liposomal doxorubicin (Caelyx®, Myocet®)

TS – thymidylate synthetase

Breast
Colon
Gastric
Head and neck
Liver
NSCLC
Pancreatic
Resistant to 5-fluorouracil (Adrucil®), cytarabine (Cytosar-U®), pemetrexed (Alimta®)

TUBB3 – Class III -tubulin

NSCLC
Ovarian
Docetaxel (Taxotere ®)
Paclitaxel (Taxol®)
Vinorelbine (Navelbine®)

(*) – Targetable genes and proteins that can also be measured to determine treatment response, cancer diagnosis and prognosis.

Diagnostic and prognostic markers

The following markers are all related to diagnosis, prognosis and treatment progress.

Known marker

Associated cancer

Role

? (alpha)-fetoprotein

Germ cell
Liver

Germ cell tumour staging, prognosis, response to treatment

Liver cancer diagnosis, response to treatment

? (beta)-2-microglobulin

Chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL)
Lymphoma
Multiple myeloma

Prognosis, response to treatment

? (beta)-human chorionic gonadotropin (?-hCG)

Choriocarcinoma (uterine)
Testicular

Staging, prognosis, response to treatment

BCR-ABL fusion gene

Chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML)

Diagnosis, disease status monitoring

BRAF (mutation V600E)

Colorectal
Melanoma

Response to targeted treatment

CA15-3/CA27.29

Breast

Treatment success, disease recurrence

CA19-9

Bile duct
Gallbladder
Gastric
Pancreatic

Treatment success

CA-125

Ovarian

Diagnosis, treatment response, disease recurrence

Calcitonin

Medullary thyroid

Diagnosis, treatment success, disease recurrence

Carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA)

Breast
Colorectal

Breast cancer recurrence, treatment response

Colorectal disease advance

CD20

Non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL)

Response to targeted treatment

Chromogranin A (CgA)

Neuroendocrine tumours

Diagnosis, treatment response, disease recurrence

Chromosomes 3, 7, 17, 9p21

Bladder

Disease recurrence

Cytokeratin fragments 21-1

Lung

Disease recurrence

Fibrin/fibrinogen

Bladder

Treatment response

Human epididymis protein 4 (HE4)

Ovarian

Disease progression, disease recurrence

Immunoglobulins (antibodies)

Multiple myeloma (MM)
Waldenstrom macroglobulinemia (blood)

Diagnosis, treatment response, disease recurrence

Lactate dehydrogenase

Germ cell tumours

Staging, prognosis, treatment response

Nuclear matrix protein 22

Bladder

Treatment response

Plasminogen activator inhibitor (PAI-1)

Breast

Grading, treatment planning

Prostate-specific antigen (PSA)

Prostate

Diagnosis, treatment response, disease recurrence

Thyroglobulin

Thyroid

Treatment response, disease recurrence

Urokinase plasminogen activator (uPA)

Breast

Grading, treatment planning

Meta description

Cancer markers can help with the diagnosis and treatment of cancer and can give access to targeted therapies.

Keywords

Cancer markers, genetic markers, diagnostic markers, drug target markers

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Checked Sep 2014

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