Mathematical Model Helps Predict Cancer Tumor Size (HealthDay)

TUESDAY, Aug. 19 (HealthDay News) -- A mathematical model to findblood biomarkers that can help doctors estimate the size of cancer tumorshas been developed by researchers at Stanford University.

The team says its work may help guide development of new tests toimprove early detection of cancer. Currently, there's no reliable methodof using the results of blood-screening tests to gauge tumor size.

The Stanford researchers developed their mathematical model using twocommon blood biomarkers: prostate specific antigen (PSA), which is oftenelevated in prostate cancer, and CA125, used as a marker for follow-uptherapy in ovarian cancer patients.

Using this model, the researchers found that the minimum tumor sizespredicted by their calculations were close to what was actually seen inclinical practice.

"We're pretty happy that we came up with rather realistic tumor sizes.Although this is a very basic model, it should give researchers a tool touse when deciding if a particular secreted protein would be a goodbiomarker," radiologist Dr. Amelie Lutz said in a Stanford newsrelease.

"Early cancer detection is a very challenging but important goal forthe cancer field. This modeling work enables a very deep understanding ofthe problems that will have to be solved for blood-based cancer biomarkersto be successful in this effort," study senior author Dr. Sanjiv SamGambhir, a professor of radiology, said in the news release.

The study was published in the Aug. 18 issue of the journal PLoSMedicine.

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