New blood test may help early detection of 8 cancers

IANS Jan 19, 2018

A new blood test that can help in the early diagnoses of eight common cancers before they spread and risk patients' chances of survival has been developed by Australian researchers.

The new test would help early detection of cancers affecting the ovary, liver, stomach, pancreas, oesophagus, bowel, lung and breast, Xinhua quotes a statement from the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research in Australia. The test "has the potential to be a one-stop, safe screening test for multiple tumour types that should have high community acceptance," Jeanne Tie, Associate Professor at the institute was quoted as saying. "For the first time, we have the promise of a screening test that will lead to earlier diagnosis and improved survival outcomes for many tumor types that are major contributors to cancer deaths in our community," Tie added.

Cancer survival rates are directly linked to how advanced the disease is in a patient during diagnosis, which means that blood tests that can accurately detect the illness well before the symptoms are present is urgently needed. There are still no effective screening tests for many major tumor types and available tests can each only screen for one cancer at a time, the report said. The new blood test, reported in the journal Science, screens for key proteins and gene mutations that indicate the presence of the cancers. It was able to detect tumours in patients in the early stages of the condition in about 70 per cent of the cases.