Clinical biomarkers for cancer recognition and prevention: A novel approach with optical measurements

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Latini, Giuseppe^{a; *} | De Felice, Claudio^b | Barducci, Alessandro^c | Dipaola, Lucia^d | Gentile, Mattia^e | Andreassi, Maria Grazia^f | Correale, Mario^g | Bianciardi, Giorgio^h

Affiliations: [a] Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Perrino Hospital Brindisi-Italy, Brindisi, Italy | [b] Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Azienda Ospedaliera Universitaria Senese, Policlinico “Le Scotte” viale Bracci, Siena, Italy | [c] Sofasi srl, Sesto Fiorentino, Firenze, Italy | [d] Research Unit of Lecce, Clinical Physiology Institute, National Research Council of Italy, Rome, Italy | [e] Medical Genetics Unit, IRCCS S. De Bellis, Castellana Grotte, Bari, Italy | [f] Genetics Research Unit, Clinical Physiology Institute, National Research Council of Italy, Rome, Italy | [g] Clinical Pathology Unit, IRCCS S. De Bellis, Castellana Grotte, Bari, Italy | [h] Department of Medical Biotechnologies, University of Siena, Siena, Italy

Correspondence: [*] Corresponding author: Giuseppe Latini, Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Perrino Hospital Brindisi-Italy, Via Babile 6, Brindisi 72100, Italy. Tel.: +39 0831 563308; Fax: +39 0832 422340; E-mail: gilatini@tin.it.

Abstract: Cancer is the most important cause of death worldwide, and early cancer detection is the most fundamental factor for efficacy of treatment, prognosis, and increasing survival rate. Over the years great effort has been devoted to discovering and testing new biomarkers that can improve its diagnosis, especially at an early stage. Here we report the potential usefulness of new, easily applicable, non-invasive and relatively low-cost clinical biomarkers, based on abnormalities of oral mucosa spectral reflectance and fractal geometry of the vascular networks in several different tissues, for identification of hereditary non-polyposis colorectal cancer carriers as well for detection of other tumors, even at an early stage. In the near future the methodology/technology of these procedures should be improved, thus making possible their applicability worldwide as screening tools for early recognition and prevention of cancer.

Keywords: Clinical biomarkers, cancer, oral mucosal network abnormalities, fractal analysis, oral mucosal spectral reflectance

DOI: 10.3233/CBM-170050

Journal: Cancer Biomarkers, vol. 22, no. 2, pp. 179-198, 2018