Scientists have developed a new blood test that can detect as many as 20 types of cancers with high accuracy. This is seen as a revolutionary invention in medical science as it will ease the cancer detection process for quick diagnose and timely treatment. During its trial, this test ably screened 20 different types of cancers with high accuracy.
The trial test was conducted on a large batch with around 3,600 blood samples of both cancer and non-cancer patients. Some samples were of people who are suffering from cancer while a few blood samples of people were yet to diagnose for cancer. This test successfully detected a cancer signal from the blood samples of cancer patients and also found out the tissue of origin from where cancer originated in their body. Boston-based Dana-Farber Cancer Institute has backed the findings. They found that this test is efficient in showing positive results only if cancer is present in the body. Similarly, its ability to find the tissue of origin is also high.
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This test is developed by a leading American biotechnology company. They have used next-gen sequencing technology in this test which probes DNA for small chemical tags that determine whether or not the genes are active in the human body. This test focuses on finding the DNA that cancer cells leave in the blood when these cells die. This technology focuses on methyl groups that are attached to DNA during the methylation process. Abnormal patterns of methylation is a prominent sign of cancer.
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"Our previous work indicated that methylation-based assays outperform traditional DNA-sequencing approaches to detecting multiple forms of cancer in blood samples," said Geoffrey Oxnard, Dana-Farber Cancer Institure and lead author of this research.
"The results of the new study demonstrate that such assays are a feasible way of screening people for cancer," Oxnard added.
Detection of even a small percent of common cancers can help patients get proper and timely treatment. This is great in combating this deadly disease and decrease the number of deaths by cancer.
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