Cancer detection predicts tumors before they form: discovery

health

To Hannah Sparks

March 27, 2023 | 3:39 PM

The future of cancer treatment, dubbed the “Holy Grail” of early detection, is now being tested.

Following a radically successful trial in cancer patients, a new blood test that promises to predict tumors more than a year before they start forming is now being applied in hospitals across the UK .

“This is the first pan-cancer blood test,” said Ashish Tripathi, founder and CEO of Tzar Labs and chairman of the India-based company Epiigneres Biotech, which conducted the test. first developed The latest report on their findings is Released this month In the journal Stem Cell.

“can detect [cancer] Faster than any other known technique…before the tumor physically formed.” new interview With author and medical advocate Dr. Deepak Chopra.

“Not only can we actually detect it at this stage, but we can actually tell which cancers are forming where directly from a blood test.”

In a trial of 1,000 participants (500 non-cancer and 500 cancer patients), researchers tested all of the most common and deadly types, including breast, pancreas, and pancreas. It was able to accurately predict tumor formation across at least 25 cancer types, including Lung and colorectal. Even some participants within the putative ‘non-cancer’ group were found to be predisposed to future cancer diagnoses.

“There were no false negatives or false positives,” said Tripathi.

UK hospitals have already begun implementing the new technology for further proof-of-concept, and researchers hope to bring it to the US soon.

Dr Sheriff Rauch, a gastrointestinal oncologist at St Bartholomew’s Hospital in London, who is leading the trial, said: Said“Detecting cancer early is the holy grail of cancer care.”

“Normally, this is not an easy process. Many patients now have scans, biopsies and clinic appointments. A single blood test can detect the presence of cancer early or before it develops. If we can, we can save a lot of lives, and this could be a game changer.”

Despite a number of blood-based cancer screening methods currently in development, Tripathi’s team’s approach does not look for full-fledged tumor cells that may already exist, but rather stem cells in cancer biomarkers. It depends on what you focus on. This allows us to determine if cancer is on the horizon, long before the cells have progressed to form a tumor.

All cells, good or bad, begin as stem cells, and those that become tumor-forming have genetic markers that prompt them to do so.

It takes one billion cancer cells to form a tumor as small as one cubic centimeter. This is a very small lump that can be detected even with a CT scanner. But inside the body, as the initial tumor grows, it releases cancer cells, enters the bloodstream, and begins to seed new tumors. have metastasizedin various other organs.

Most of the previously developed cancer diagnostic blood tests were done to find fully mature tumor cells moving through the blood. Tripathi said the method is prone to false negatives. That’s because not all blood samples show specific cells.

“Here are the breakthroughs we made: Every liquid biopsy company you know…they were looking for these. [tumor cell] Fragments in peripheral blood,” explained Tripathi. Unfortunately, in the early stages of cancer, there are “very few” tumor cells circulating.

And by stage 3 or 4, when cancer cells have proliferated throughout the bloodstream and can be detected by conventional means, it is often too late for treatment.

A new ‘prognostic’ test not only confirms stage 1 or 2 cancer, but also whether a patient’s stem cells are destined for cancer well before stage 1 (up to 18 months ahead) can also know This offers physicians a significant advantage when it comes to targeted therapies to prevent tumors from forming.

Good news for those who have already been diagnosed with cancer. While traditional tissue biopsies may help determine whether tumors have spread, new blood tests target tumor cells, non-invasively, before the initial tumor builds up. You can know exactly which organs are affected.

“The latest research in the US shows that tumor activity accelerates as soon as a biopsy is done,” Tripathi noted, adding why conventional biopsies are inadequate. . Their blood tests can be run many times without harm.

As such, this groundbreaking screen can also be used to track the success of cancer treatments. Mr Tripathi said: “The body is trying to let him know within 15 days if the drug is working. We can’t do repeat biopsies on patients, so we don’t have a diagnostic tool that can really measure this every 15 days. ”

Tripathi has high hopes for this new approach. “What we want is a world where we can all do this test once a year he does and detect cancer at stage 1 or even lower. It makes healing easier.”