Leidy Alvarado presents research using serum samples from breast cancer patients, including 20 with recurrent cancer, to identify potential biomarkers for early detection of recurrence. Various profiling methods identified eleven potential biomarkers. A model was developed that could detect the possibility of cancer recurrence. This new method allows for more accurate and effective early detection of recurrent breast cancer compared to existing techniques.

1. Early Detection of Recurrent Breast Cancer Using Metabolite Profiling
Reflection
Even with all the advances of science to date, breast cancer is still the leading cause of death for
women worldwide. Most methods and techniques used to detect breast cancer are imprecise and
unreliable. For this reason, research is being done to find newer, more reliable methods to detect cancer
at an early stage. Scientists are trying to identify cancer using blood based tumor markers. In her paper,
Leidy Alvarado, presents research she is currently doing on markers for recurrent cancer. For this study,
serum was acquired from several patients that were previously diagnosed with breast cancer, twenty of
them having had recurrent breast cancer. In order to detect possible markers, several profiling methods
were used on the samples, such as nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and two-dimensional gas
chromatography-mass spectrometry (GCxGC-MS). With these techniques, they were able to identify a
number of eleven potential biomarkers for breast cancer, and were able to develop a model to detect
the possibility of recurrence in cancer patients.
These findings are revolutionary for the oncological field, for it allows a more accurate and more
effective method to detect cancer in patients. This will also allow surviving cancer patients to determine
if they are truly free of cancer and be able to detect a recurrence in early stage. These results represent
a closer step for cancer diagnosis and treatment.