cancer screening and detection/biomarkers

what is meant by cancer screening

identification of preclinical disease by a simple test

what are the 2 indicators of the success of screening processes

sensitivity and specificity

what does a high level of program validity assume

• individuals in the target population are identified and will attend the program

• there are adequate facilities to take the test and for assessing the screening test

• has a carefully designed and agreed referral system

what are some of the biases in screening

• healthy volunteer bias - individuals responding to participate tend to be healthier

• lead-time bias

• length-based sampling

• overdiagnosis - cancers are so benign that they have virtually no growth potential, or cancers that grow so slowly that the person would die of another cause

name some examples of some screening methods

• imaging - CT, MRIs, ultrasounds and PET scans

• histological examination - biopsy and tissue analysis

• molecular diagnostics - blood and liquid biopsies

name the 3 most common cancer screening methods

cervical screening, bowel cancer screening and breast cancer screening

what are biomarkers

biological molecules found in the blood, other body fluids or tissues that are signs of a normal or abnormal process, condition or disease

what is meant by functional genomics

refers to the investigation of large datasets produced by the genome sequencing aiming to determine function of genes, RNA and proteins

what is meant by comparative genomics

comparing the genome sequence of different species

what is meant by metabolomics

analysis of metabolites in a biological specimen

what is the role of histones

proteins which organize genetic material