A blood test for cancer? Lung cancer claims more lives than any other cancer – but there is no routine way to detect and catch it before it becomes deadly. Local researchers are developing a blood test that could provide early detection of lung cancer.
Lung cancers are often found by accident or after the symptoms are already advanced.
Louise Showe at the Wistar Institute and her colleagues realized that cancer can stamp a genetic fingerprint in the immune cells circulating in the blood.
So the idea was to develop a test that could identify that mark before the cancer got out of control. They took blood samples from 200 people at high risk, and were able to detect cancers with 86 percent accuracy.
The results were published in the latest issue of Cancer Research, Showe said the study is only preliminary.
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Study shows modest improvement in advanced lung cancer overall …
Research released in the December 2009 issue of the Journal of Thoracic Oncology sought to determine whether the survival improvement among patients with metastatic lung cancer has improved over the last two decades as reported in controlled clinical trials.
“Although the development of several new agents led to a statistically significant survival improvement between 1990 and 2005, it is sobering that the one-year survival has improved by only 6 percent during this time,” says Dr. Morgensztern. “Real progress can only be achieved with a better understanding of tumor biology and development of novel therapies.”
Tags: Lung Cancer News