Surprisingly, elevated serum VCP levels were detected in clinically significant proportions of patients with ovarian carcinoma (8 of 8), breast cancer (5 of 12), colon cancer (7 of 12), pancreatic cancer (8 of 12) or non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (5 of 12) (Figure 2B and Table 3). This evidence concerns the gene VCP and breast carcinoma.