Development of computational tools for the detection of circulating small RNA biomarkers in cancer patients

Abstract

Cancer is the leading cause of premature death (0-69) in Spain and in the vast majority of countries in the European Union. Developing countries are less a ected but numbers are expected to rise over the next few decades as a consequence of population aging and lifestyle changes. Besides the human losses, cancer is responsible for large economic impact on healthcare systems and companies. It will come as no surprise to learn that many pharmaceutical companies and public funding agencies target cancer as their most funded research topic. Cancer is a complex set of diseases that are normally labeled using the tissue and/or cell type from which they originate. Each type is associated with very di erent prognosis and treatments but in most cases, patients would bene t from early detection, diagnosis and treatment since tumors tend to become more aggressive with time. In the United States, breast and colon cancer mortality rates have dropped 40% in the last 25 years in part as a consequence of achieving earlier diagnoses on average.