Why is analyzing multiple biomarkers important?
There may be a significant benefit in simultaneously measuring multiple biomarkers (a process also called “stacking”). For example, the most commonly used screening test for ovarian cancer is a single biomarker called CA 125. However, CA 125 only identifies Stage I ovarian cancer in 50 percent of cases. The other half of women with early stage cancer will be missed by this single test. If five additional, biologically independent tests, each of which also has an individual detection rate of only 50 percent, are stacked along with the CA 125 test, the theoretical combined detection rate of the six tests increases to 98 percent. Source: Hematology/Oncology Clinics of North America Volume 17. Number 4.
