Serum-Autoantibody testing for early diagnosis of Breast Cancer

Tumour auto-antibodies in the serum of patients are early indicators for breast-cancer and can be detected by protein-chips using a few micro liters of patients' serum.
Protein chip technology (AIT) and phage-display (BOKU) will be used for identification of auto-antibody-based markers. Therefore serum of patients with malignant and benign breast tumours and healthy controls will be used (MUW), then a prototype test will be developed and validated using 1200 serum samples. Hence an assay will be developed which in addition to mammography improves the detection and diagnosis of early-stage breast cancer. This project has a high long-term impact because early detection of breast cancers significantly enhances therapeutic success and women's chances of survival.