A 30-year-old young woman was unfortunately diagnosed with mid-to-late stage rectal cancer. According to traditional standard cancer treatment methods, she needed to undergo radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and then surgery. After the surgery, even if the tumor was successfully removed, she would have to carry a colostomy, commonly known as a “fecal bag”, for life, which would have a huge impact on her quality of life. However, the application of biomarkers changed all this and brought her a miraculous turnaround.
A biomarker is a molecule or indicator that can be used to measure biological processes in the body. It may exist in blood, urine, tissues, cells, or even genes, and can reflect a person’s health status, disease progression, or response to treatment.
Biomarkers are like the human body’s “health code”. These clues can help doctors diagnose diseases, determine which treatment is suitable for patients, monitor efficacy, predict whether the disease will recur, etc. Biomarker testing can make treatment more accurate and targeted, avoid blind treatment attempts, improve efficacy, and improve patients’ quality of life.
Ads-ADVERTISEMENT
Ads-ADVERTISEMENT
A “standard package” to avoid overtreatment
In cancer treatment, biomarkers play a vital role, freeing patients from the “standard package” of “surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy” in cancer treatment and achieving precise treatment of “giving the right patient the right medicine at the right time.”
The young female patient mentioned at the beginning of the article is a treatment case shared by Dr. Huang Yiwu, attending physician at the Marymour Hospital Cancer Center in Brooklyn, New York, on the New Tang Dynasty TV program [Health 1+1]. At that time, after the patient was diagnosed with rectal cancer, Dr. Huang performed a biomarker test on her and found that the patient’s tumor carried a special gene mutation – MSI-High (high microsatellite instability). Patients with this mutation usually respond very well to immunotherapy.
Therefore, based on the test results, the doctor decided not to use traditional radiotherapy and chemotherapy, but instead chose a more targeted treatment option for her – immunotherapy, using a new drug, PD-1 antibody Dostarlimab.
The patient was injected with Dostarlimab every three weeks. After six months of treatment, the tumor completely disappeared. It has been more than a year now, and there has been no recurrence. This young female patient not only avoided the pain of surgery, the side effects of radiotherapy and chemotherapy, but more importantly, she did not need to carry a colostomy (fecal bag) for life. It can be said that this result not only saved her life, but also saved her life.
Find the “right medicine” as soon as possible
In cancer treatment, this situation often occurs: the same treatment method or drug is very effective for A, but ineffective for B, and not only ineffective for C, but also has serious side effects.
After a patient is diagnosed, how can we determine which treatment method is most suitable for him? It is obviously difficult to do this based on the doctor’s experience alone, and it is even more unrealistic to try them one by one. Another treatment case shared by Dr. Huang Yiwu highlights the important role of “biomarker” testing in cancer treatment – choosing the most effective treatment plan based on the specific characteristics of the tumor:
A 36-year-old patient came to the clinic with a diagnosis of advanced malignant lymphoma. Based on his condition, the doctor developed a chemotherapy plus targeted therapy plan for him. After six courses of treatment, his tumor completely disappeared, and imaging examinations showed that there were no lesions in his body.
However, a follow-up CT scan six months later revealed that he had multiple nodules in his lungs. The doctor initially determined that it was a recurrence of lymphoma, but in order to confirm the diagnosis, a fine needle aspiration biopsy of the lung nodules was performed and some tumor cells were removed for analysis. The test results were surprising: this was not lymphoma, but another type of cancer – lung adenocarcinoma.
Because the lung adenocarcinoma had spread to both lungs, the patient was not suitable for surgery or radiotherapy. The doctor performed a molecular genetic test on him and found that the patient carried the ALK fusion gene mutation.
Ads-ADVERTISEMENT
Ads-ADVERTISEMENT
Therefore, the doctor selected a drug specifically targeting this gene mutation for him. After taking the drug, the patient had another CT scan within three months, which showed that the tumor in his lung had completely disappeared. His condition was under complete control. He has been taking this targeted drug for more than four years, and the tumor has not recurred, nor has it affected his daily life.
Biomarkers aren’t just for cancer
Biomarker detection is not only used for the diagnosis and treatment of cancer, but also has a wide range of applications in clinical practice, including cardiovascular diseases, metabolic diseases, and nervous system diseases. For example:
• Cancer treatment: determine tumor characteristics and select targeted drugs.
• Cardiovascular disease : Troponin is an important indicator of myocardial infarction.
• Diabetes: Glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) reflects long-term blood sugar control.
• Neurological disease : β-amyloid is an important diagnostic marker for Alzheimer’s disease.
• Liver disease: ALT (alanine aminotransferase) and AST (aspartate aminotransferase) are routine indicators of liver damage, and elevated levels indicate liver inflammation or damage. AFP (alpha-fetoprotein) is often used for screening and monitoring of hepatocellular carcinoma.
• Kidney disease: Creatinine and blood urea nitrogen (BUN) are basic markers of renal impairment and are used to assess the kidney’s ability to remove waste.
As technology advances, biomarker testing will play a role in more disease areas and bring more hope to patients.
