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Related: About this forumScientists develop 10-minute universal cancer test ((90% solution??))
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/dec/04/scientists-develop-10-minute-universal-cancer-testScientists develop 10-minute universal cancer test
Scientists have developed a universal cancer test that can detect traces of the disease in a patients bloodstream. The cheap and simple test uses a colour-changing fluid to reveal the presence of malignant cells anywhere in the body and provides results in less than 10 minutes. While the test is still in development, it draws on a radical new approach to cancer detection that could make routine screening for the disease a simple procedure for doctors.
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The test has a sensitivity of about 90%, meaning it would detect about 90 in 100 cases of cancer. It would serve as an initial check for cancer, with doctors following up positive results with more focused investigations.
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The test was made possible by the Queensland teams discovery that cancer DNA and normal DNA stick to metal surfaces in markedly different ways. This allowed them to develop a test that distinguishes between healthy cells and cancerous ones, even from the tiny traces of DNA that find their way into the bloodstream.
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The test was made possible by the Queensland teams discovery that cancer DNA and normal DNA stick to metal surfaces in markedly different ways. This allowed them to develop a test that distinguishes between healthy cells and cancerous ones, even from the tiny traces of DNA that find their way into the bloodstream.
Healthy cells ensure they function properly by patterning their DNA with molecules called methyl groups. These work like volume controls, silencing genes that are not needed and turning up others that are. In cancer cells, this patterning is hijacked so that only genes that help the cancer grow are switched on. While the DNA inside normal cells has methyl groups dotted all over it, the DNA inside cancer cells is largely bare, with methyl groups found only in small clusters at specific locations.
Writing in the journal Nature Communications, the Queensland team described a series of tests that confirmed the telltale pattern of methyl groups in breast, prostate and colorectal cancer as well as lymphoma. They then showed that the patterns had a dramatic impact on the DNAs chemistry, making normal and cancer DNA behave very differently in water. This is a huge discovery that no one has grasped before, said Carrascosa.
After a series of experiments, the scientists hit on the new test for cancer. The suspect DNA is added to water containing tiny gold nanoparticles. Though made of gold, the particles turn the water pink. If DNA from cancer cells is then added, it sticks to the nanoparticles in such a way that the water retains its original colour. But if DNA from healthy cells is added, the DNA binds to the particles differently, and turns the water blue. The test is sensitive enough to detect very low levels of cancer DNA in the sample, Carrascosa said.
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Scientists develop 10-minute universal cancer test ((90% solution??)) (Original Post)
nitpicker
Dec 2018
OP
underpants
(182,877 posts)1. Good news
question everything
(47,534 posts)2. Hoping that it will be developed into a meaningful test
We have been through many false starts so... holding my fingers.