Quoted from http://www.medpagetoday.com/HematologyOncology/OtherCancers/35247

Biomarker for Asbestos-Linked Cancer Works

ByMichael Smith, North American Correspondent, MedPage Today Published: October 10, 2012

Glycoprotein fibulin-3 can be used to identify patients with pleural mesothelioma and may be a useful biomarker for the asbestos-related illness, researchers reported.

Plasma levels of the protein were higher in people with the disease than they were in people exposed to asbestos but who did not have mesothelioma, according to Harvey Pass, MD, of New York University Langone Medical Center in New York City, and colleagues.

And levels in effusions from mesothelioma patients were higher than they were in patients with effusions from other causes, Pass and colleagues reported in the Oct. 11 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

On the other hand, the researchers cautioned, it’s too early to say that the protein can be used for early detection because of a lack of prospective longitudinal studies.

Despite advances in therapy, median survival for pleural mesothelioma remains about a year from diagnosis, the researchers noted.

[Article continues at original source]