Abstract

Cancer is a disease either caused by genetic mutation or epigenetic modifications at the transcription level. Disease diagnosis at the early stage is a challenging step to be taken care for improving the outcome of patient survival. Latest advances has renewed interest and ended in the development of different potential biomarkers. Biomarkers of cancer include DNA, RNA, proteins, lipids, sugars, small metabolites, cytokinetic and cytogenetic parameters and the entire tumour cells found in the body fluid. Biomarkers should be thoroughly investigated for diagnosing the disease accurately, and to aid in the selective targeted therapies to improve the disease outcome. This review gives a brief description on various biomarkers for diagnosis, prognosis and therapeutic purposes, and how the epigenetic biomarkers act as cancer biomarker effectively.

Keywords: Hypomethylation; Microarrays; Malignant tumors; Chemotherapy