ESMO Factsheets on Biomarkers
The ESMO Translational Research and Precision Medicine Working Group has developed factsheets of validated biomarkers designed to assist you in your daily practice. They give statements on:
- Prognostic value
- Predictive value
- Testing recommendations
- Ensuring quality and timely testing results
- Patient selection
A biomarker is a characteristic that is objectively measured and evaluated as an indicator of normal biological processes, pathogenic processes, or pharmacologic responses to a therapeutic intervention. Biomarkers are key components of translational studies. Ideally, the development of targeted therapies should be closely coupled with the identification and validation of biomarkers.
Recommendations for the use of next-generation sequencing (NGS) for patients with advanced cancer
ESMO recommends running tumour NGS in advanced non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer, prostate cancer, colorectal cancer, cholangiocarcinoma, ovarian cancer, breast cancer and rare tumours such as gastrointestinal stromal tumours, sarcoma, thyroid cancer, and cancer of unknown primary. ESMO also recommends performing tumour NGS to detect tumour-agnostic alterations in patients with metastatic cancers where access to matched therapies is available.