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Researchers from Johns Hopkins University are developing a blood test that can detect early-stage cancer.
Currently, other blood tests in the market can only track efficiency of cancer treatments or detect late-stage cancer. The new blood test involves determining the sequence of a person’s DNA to look for mutations, which are usually found in the DNA of cancer patients.
In an experiment using the new blood test, the researchers were able to find a high percentage of early-stage cancer in patients. They correctly identified 62% of patients with stage 1 cancer. They had a higher success rate for late-stage cancer.
Though the results seemed good, the researchers still want to work on having a higher success rate. They plan to conduct the blood test on a larger group of patients and with more varied types of cancer.
The researchers also said that they still have a long way to go before they reach their goal, which is to detect cancer at its earliest stage. They aim to screen for cancer mutations before patients even show symptoms. In the future, they also want to test on people with high risk of cancer but do not show symptoms, like smokers.
While the study focuses on looking for mutations to detect cancer early, there have been previous methods that use risk assessment to battle cancer.
In 2013, Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie underwent preventive surgery because she had a high risk of developing cancer. Through tests, she found out that she carries a gene that gives her a high chance of getting cancer, so she had some of her body parts removed. Shortly after Jolie made her story public, many people also underwent tests to assess their risks of getting cancer.