Breast Cancer Blood Test Spots Hidden Threat That Could Cause It To Return
Liquid biopsies already help guide treatment, but researchers wanted to see if they can be used to diagnose people too.
A fresh blood test, detailed in a Nature study, may detect early-stage breast cancer and gauge the risk of its recurrence by analyzing chemical tags in the DNA. This innovative method, led by researchers at Israel's Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Weizmann Institute of Science, focuses on epigenetic signatures within the tumor.
These epigenetic markers, found in blood through dead cells, help identify cancer and predict recurrences. The study, which analyzed blood samples from 77 breast cancer patients and 30 healthy women, achieved 95 percent accuracy in distinguishing early-stage breast cancer from healthy subjects. Crucially, the test can identify hidden, aggressive cancer cells that may not be detected by conventional methods, even in seemingly low-risk patients.
While promising, Dr. Lucy Hooper, a GP and co-founder of Coyne Medical, emphasizes the need for more extensive studies to validate the test's efficacy in routine screening and its potential impact on long-term outcomes and treatment decisions.
Written by urgent.news from Newsweek's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
