No more annoying colonoscopies, punctures or other tests, but a simple blood test to detect cancer and recognize the presence of malignant cells early. It would be a big step forward.
Such a blood test has come much closer now that a group of medical scientists have identified ten blood proteins specific to men and women that can be used to measure whether a person has an early form of cancer. . The blood test can recognize eighteen types of tumors in organs throughout the body.
Sex differences in tumors
Scientists hope that the development of a new generation of screening tests will now gain momentum thanks to their findings. They point out that there are many differences between cancer in men and women, such as the age at which the disease develops, the type of cancer, and genetic mutations that increase the risk of developing the disease. The idea is that now that biomarkers have been determined separately for men and women, specialists will be able to screen in a much more targeted way in the near future.
There is a lot of room for improvement
One in six people in the world dies from cancer. About 60 percent of them die from cancers for which there is no screening test, the researchers explain. And the tests used also have many drawbacks, such as pain or discomfort, high costs and poor reliability in the initial phase of the disease.
Biological footprint
Each type of tumor leaves its own biological fingerprint as it grows, and these proteins can be found in the blood plasma, although the biomarker is sometimes undetectable or barely detectable. For the study, the team analyzed the blood plasma of 440 people who suffered from eighteen different types of cancer and had not yet started treatment. They also received blood plasma samples from 44 healthy blood donors.
Scientists measured the presence of more than 3,000 proteins in the blood, known to be part of the chemical processes surrounding tumor growth. Using a statistical algorithm, these values were linked to the specific type of cancer that the patients in question had. In the end, for both men and women, ten blood proteins remained, which showed significantly different values in the blood plasma of cancer patients compared to healthy people. The combination of these values shows whether someone suffers from one of the eighteen forms of the disease examined and exactly what type it is.
Impressive numbers
The test was able to detect cancer in stages 1 to 3, but its ability to detect early stages is truly impressive. As many as 93% of tumors in men were discovered at stage 1, in women in 84% of cases. In both sexes, the test identified the correct cancer type in 99% of positive tests.
The researchers explain that there is still much to be known about the precise composition of the proteins produced and emitted by the body’s various organs and cells. They also highlight the relatively small sample size of their study. Of course, much follow-up research is still needed to bring a reliable and scalable blood test to market for early cancer detection. However the scientists conclude: “Our new testing method based on proteins in blood plasma shows excellent results in detecting tumors early in patients without any disorder. That is why we consider this blood test a good candidate for use in population research.”
MCED test
So we’re not there yet, but the test is promising. “There are still a number of issues with “early detection of multiple tumors”test (MCED), which must first be solved. But if we succeed, I see a golden future for this technique,” writes researcher Holli Loomans-Kropp of the University Ohio State University. “This study shows how different the biological signatures of tumors are in men and women. This way we can learn more about sex-specific differences in cancer types, genetic mutations and the age at which the disease appears.”
2024-01-13 13:20:48
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