Less Invasive Serum Biomarker for Diagnosis of Breast Cancer and Therapeutic Targets

By Ramadhani Chambuso

Breast cancer is the most frequent malignancy in women and the second leading cause of cancer-related mortalities worldwide.

It is worth noting that better understanding of potential biomarkers and therapeutic targets of breast cancer will facilitate improvement in the survival rate of patients with breast cancer.

However, a recent study found that beta-thymosin (TMSB10), which is originally found from the thymus gland on the upper front part of the chest, is significantly elevated in human breast cancer cells and tissues. It further correlates with advanced clinicopathological features, metastasis status and poor prognosis.

On the other hand, overexpression of TMSB10 promotes, while silencing of TMSB10 inhibits, proliferation, invasion and migration of breast cancer cells in vitro and in vivo.

In conclusion, these findings indicate that TMSB10 may be potential future valuable serum biomarker for the diagnosis of breast cancer and as a potential therapeutic target for the treatment of the disease.

Source link: Zhang et al., 2017.