RESUMO
INTRODUCTION: Cancer is a complex disorder whose detection and monitoring remains challenging. A biological modeling system, the biology of functions (BoF), claims to be able to evaluate physiologic elements related to carcinogenic activity. A pilot study was undertaken to evaluate the accuracy of the BoF in detecting differences between cancer cases and matched controls. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A retrospective case control study was performed using the BoF analyses of 46 patients with all types of solid and hematgenous cancers, active and inactive (total cases), and 46 controls from a private practice. The standard BoF panel of 17 biomarkers was evaluated. Sixty-two of 150 BoF indices derived from these biomarkers were pre-selected for analysis based on their relationship to cancer physiology. The data was analyzed with the Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test using SPSS software. RESULTS: Of the 62 indices, 7 were found to be statistically significant in comparing total cancer cases to controls: ßMSH/αMSH, Estrogen Fraction #5, Comparative Genital Androgeny, Thyroid, Genito-thyroid, Catabolism/Anabolism and Pro-inflammatory. CONCLUSIONS: In a small retrospective case control study, statistically significant differences were found between cancer cases and controls in 7 BoF indices. These indices are indicators of physiological conditions consistent with cancer growth. These results warrant further study of this biological modeling system in cancer patients.
