Scientists have discovered a new procedure that can help provide warning to people of coming cancer risk. The new promising method in the form of blood test can help individuals seek early treatments and medication to avoid fully developing a cancer disease.
The British scientists from the Institute of Cancer Research in London developed the test called liquid biopsy. The said test can help detect breast cancer formation eight months earlier before it totally strikes in the patient's body. Small numbers of residual cancer cells can be detected by examining the tumor DNA in the bloodstream.
Through liquid biopsies, the tiny tumor cells that are circulating in the blood will be spotted giving patients the chance to do something before the destructive cells grow somewhere in the part of the body. It picks up the key mutations which will give help professionals the opportunity to target the specific genetic make-up of the cancer.
Dr. Nicholas Turner from Institute of Cancer Research who is the leader of the study stated the potential of the discovery.
"We have shown how a simple blood test has the potential to accurately predict which patients will relapse from breast cancer, much earlier than we can currently. We also used blood tests to build a picture of how the cancer was evolving over time, and this information could be invaluable to help doctors select the correct drugs to treat the cancer."
Cancer patients who undergo surgery, chemotherapy and radiation treatments have no guarantee that all of the cancer cells will be cured. There are many instances when cancer relapses. With the new technique, this issue can be avoided.
The research team examined breast tumors from 55 different patients for their DNA. They run full sequences in order to determine the exact genetic signature of that tumor. For more than two years, the breast cancer of the 15 patients returned and the team were able to caught 12 of the cases eight months earlier.
However, the test was not successful in finding brain tumors. The study was reported in the journal Science Translational Medicine.
