Newly Developed Blood Test Capable of Detecting Early Cancer Symptoms
A team of researchers, headed by the Cancer Research UK Lung Cancer Centre of Excellence, the Francis Crick Institute, and University College London’s Cancer Institute published a study in Nature outlining how a blood test can detect lung cancer a year earlier than CT or X-ray scans are currently capable of IFLScience.com reported.
They conducted a comprehensive study that attempted to track “the genesis and progression of lung cancer in patients” looking “for all and any biomarkers” that could “indicate the stages of the cancer’s proliferation through the body,” with the goal of finding “signs of the cancer making a comeback after treatment,” Robin Andrews reported. They began this research by extracting and analyzing lung tumor samples and documenteing the genetic markers of the patient’s tumors were documented. Blood tests were then designed to recognize signs of these markers.
The researchers found that these blood tests were capable of identifying the documented biomarkers before any other form of cancer detection method previously available. Because earlier detection typically means earlier treatment, survival rates, at least for lung cancer at present, are sure to increase.
