Oncotarget: First Blood Test for Early Melanoma Detection (A 2018 Study)

In this top-performing paper published in Oncotarget on July 17, 2018, entitled, “A diagnostic autoantibody signature for primary cutaneous melanoma,” Australian researchers developed the first blood test to detect melanoma in early stages. The researchers from Australia’s Edith Cowan University, Hollywood Private Hospital, Level 1 Melanoma, St. John of God Hospital, Dermatology Specialist Group, Skin Check WA, and The University of Western Australia collected blood sera (plural of serum, which contains exogenous substances in the blood, such as electrolytes, antibodies, autoantibodies, antigens, and hormones) from a total of 245 primary melanoma patients and healthy volunteers. The sera were screened against a high-throughput microarray profiling platform of 1,627 functional proteins. After conducting detailed statistical analysis, the team found that the most effective biomarker for melanoma diagnosis was a combined signature of 10 autoantibodies which, together, displayed 79% sensitivity and 84% specificity in primary melanoma detection. “This melanoma autoantibody signature may prove valuable for the development of a diagnostic blood test for routine population screening that, when used in conjunction with current melanoma diagnostic techniques, could improve the early diagnosis of this malignancy and ultimately decrease the mortality rate of patients.” To date, this research paper has since generated an impressive Altmetric Attention score of 597. Read the full study: https://www.oncotarget.com/article/25669/text/ The Top-Performer series highlights research literature published in Oncotarget that has generated a high Altmetric score. Altmetric scores, located at the top-left of trending Oncotarget papers, provide an at-a-glance indication of the volume and type of online attention the research has received. Top Oncotarget publications rated by Altmetric score: https://www.oncotarget.com/news/altmetric/ More from the Top-Performer series: https://www.oncotarget.org/tag/top-performer/ Sign up for free Altmetric alerts about this article: DOI: https://doi.org/10.18632/oncotarget.25669 Full text: https://www.oncotarget.com/article/25669/text/ Correspondence to: Pauline Zaenker - p.zaenker@ecu.edu.au; paulinez@our.ecu.edu.au About Oncotarget: Oncotarget is a bi-weekly, peer-reviewed, open access biomedical journal covering research on all aspects of oncology. To learn more about Oncotarget, please visit https://www.oncotarget.com or connect with: SoundCloud - https://soundcloud.com/oncotarget Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/Oncotarget/ Twitter - https://twitter.com/oncotarget YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/c/OncotargetYouTube/ LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/oncotarget Pinterest - https://www.pinterest.com/oncotarget/ Reddit - https://www.reddit.com/user/Oncotarget/ Oncotarget is published by Impact Journals, LLC please visit https://www.ImpactJournals.com or connect with @ImpactJrnls Media Contact MEDIA@IMPACTJOURNALS.COM 18009220957