The discovery and integration of cancer biomarkers into oncology research has transformed how cancer is detected, diagnosed and treated. As precision medicine continues to evolve, biomarkers have become essential tools supporting personalised cancer treatment, providing key insights not only about tumour biology but also patient-specific factors that influence therapeutic outcomes.

Fundamentally, biomarkers are measurable indicators of biological processes or responses that reflect the underlying state of disease and may include nucleic acids, proteins, or circulating tumour cells, and can be isolated from a range of specimens such as tumour tissue, blood, saliva, or urine. The diversity of biomarker types mirrors the complexity of cancer itself, necessitating tailored approaches for different tumour types and stages. As such, the integration of biomarkers into clinical decision-making offers several key advantages. Early detection of diagnostic biomarkers can improve survival rates by enabling intervention at more treatable stages. Predictive biomarkers help clinicians identify which patients are likely to benefit from a given therapy which is especially important when it comes to precision medicine approaches, such as selecting an appropriate targeted immunotherapy. Prognostic biomarkers, by contrast, provide information about the disease outcome irrespective of treatment and are useful for stratifying patients in clinical trials or planning long-term care.