Beyond static biomarkers--The dynamic response potential of signaling networks as an alternate biomarker?

Abstract

In this week's issue of Science Signaling, Fey et al. introduce a new type of biomarker. Using the example of neuroblastoma, the authors demonstrate that patient-specific differences in the computed property (the Hill coefficient) of the dynamics of a pathway involved in cell death signaling outperformed the prognostic capability of any single static biomarker alone or in combination.