New blood test can detect cancer 3 years before symptoms

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Johns Hopkins researchers have developed an advanced blood test that can detect signs of cancer three years before any surface of the symptoms.

Progress can help doctors diagnose cancer long before today’s examination tools allow, giving patients a better stroke in the beat of the disease.

“Three years ago provides time for intervention,” Dr. said Yuxuan Wang, an oncology assistant professor and leading study researcher, said in a statement.

“The tumors are likely to be much less advanced and more likely to be treatable,” she added.

For the study, Wang and her colleagues analyzed blood samples from 52 people involved in a major national project of the Cardiovascular Health -funded health project.

Half was later diagnosed with cancer within six months of blood giving. The rest remained without cancer.

Researchers directed samples through an early Multicancer detection test (MCED), which uses ultra-sensitive sequences to hunt for small pieces of mutated DNA that tumors flow into the bloodstream.

She discovered signs of cancer in 8 of the next 26 patients.

But here is the shock: six of those patients had older blood samples in the folder – and in four of them, early signs of cancer were already drowsy more than three years before their diagnosis.

“This study shows the promise of McED tests in detecting cancers very early, and sets the sensitivity of the standards required for their success,” said the High Author Dr. Bert Vogelstein, a Professor of Oncology and co -director of the Ludwig Center on Johns Hopkins.

For now, no MCED test has been fully approved by the FDA for widespread use, although some are available commercial according to the most loose rules as developed laboratory tests.

While MCED tests are not intended to replace standard performances, experts say they can play an important role in detecting cancers earlier – especially those, such as colon cancer, often diagnosed in advanced stages.

“The discovery of cancers years before their clinical diagnosis can help ensure management with a more favorable outcome,” said Nickolas Papadopoulos, a Professor of Oncology and high author of the study.

“Of course, we have to determine the right clinical tracking after a positive test for such cancers,” he added.

Among the eight participants whose cancers the McED test discovered months before diagnosis, five died of the disease – underlining how much deadly cancer can be when caught too late.

For example, the five-year survival rate for breast cancer is 99% when detected early, but drops to less than 32% after the disease has spread, according to the American Cancer Association.

Excluding non-melanoma skin cancers, the group estimates that more than 2 million new cases of cancer will be diagnosed in the SH.BA in 2025 with over 618,000 people expected to die from the disease.

This breaks down at approximately 1,700 deaths each day.