Molecular markers or biomarkers are compounds that are made of protein, DNA or RNA, which help in prognosis of cancer, and also its severity. They also act as carrier molecules to help rapid entry, attachment and spread of malignancy, and act as tool for diagnosis and to detect the complication of malignancy and also which can direct the treatment outcome. Cancer cells show sudden and rapid changes, alterations in the genetic composition. During such alterations specific type of cancer is used as biomarkers for diagnosis and prognosis. It indicates the presence of malignancy and it may be part of the tumour secretion or responses to the cancer by the host body. It primarily helps in detection of chromosomal alternations there by diagnosis of cancer origin.
Another important role of biomarkers is in treatment of the cancer as helps in prognosis. Its composition and activity depends on the patients’ genetic makeup, and which help in drug dosage stages as excessive drug dosing leads to accumulation of drugs in the body, biomarkers level gives presumptive level for dosage to be given. Biomarkers can be most useful in helping the treatment ways as each have different genetic makeup of such molecular markers. It should be involved in process of cancer, the changes with it should change the level of disease, it should be easily detectable, and treatment procedures directed to it correlated with the change in its level. Biomarkers are therefore measure to biological processes, pathological conditions, and responses to the therapeutics.