Could we soon be able to detect cancer in 10 minutes?

[Judi Lynn]

Pioneering methods are being developed to find traces of tumours quickly in small blood samples

Zoë Corbyn
Sun 24 Feb 2019 04.00 EST Last modified on Sun 24 Feb 2019 16.45 EST

About seven years ago, researchers at the US DNA sequencing company Illumina started to notice something odd. A new blood test it ran on 125,000 expectant mothers looking for genetic abnormalities such as Down’s syndrome in their foetuses returned some extremely unexpected signals in 10 cases. Chillingly, it dawned on them that the abnormal DNA they were seeing wasn’t from the foetuses but was, rather, undiagnosed cancer in the mothers. Cancers of different types were later confirmed in all 10. “This was not a test developed for cancer screening,” says Alex Aravanis, then Illumina’s senior R&D director. “But it was evidence that it might be possible.”

In 2016, Illumina created Silicon Valley-based spin-off company Grail, with Aravanis as chief scientific officer. Backed by more than $1.5bn in funding, including money from Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Grail is on a quest to detect multiple types of cancer before symptoms, via a single, simple blood test. The test looks at cell-free plasma to find fragments of so-called circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA) sloughed off by cancer cells.

Detecting cancer sooner – before symptoms – means you can intervene earlier and people are less likely to die. While doctors can screen for breast, colon and lung cancer, most varieties of the disease can only be detected after symptoms appear. And though it is far from the only approach, the beauty of blood is that it is minimally invasive to collect. “A relatively simple blood-based test that can screen for evidence of cancer… might improve or even replace some screening programmes over time,” says Jacqui Shaw, professor of translational cancer genetics at the University of Leicester, who studies ctDNA.

Looking for ctDNA has become a viable proposition in recent years because of improvements in DNA sequencing technologies that make it possible to scan fragments and find those few with alterations that may indicate cancer. While other blood-based biomarkers are being investigated, the advantage of ctDNA is that, because it has a direct link to the tumour, it can be very specific at identifying cancer. For that reason, ctDNA is also showing promise as a way to profile and monitor advanced stage cancers, a “liquid biopsy”.

More:
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2019/feb/24/the-10-minute-test-for-cancer-pioneering-methods-blood-test-detection-tumours-lung-breast-colorectal

[Wounded Bear]

1. Thanks for the link...

Sounds like it could be a game changer.

[qazplm135]

2. Interesting. I just got found with an enlarged appendix

thanks to an MRI of my hip.

To make sure it wasn't cancer, I had to do a colonoscopy, then they removed the appendix and parts nearby.

Checked it all, no cancer. But imagine if there were a simpler test they could do that would remove the need perhaps for surgery in some cases?

[csziggy]

3. In 2017 during a CT in prep for a valve replacement they found a kidney cancer

The cancer was completely asymptomatic even after they found it. If I had not gotten that CT at that time the chances are that the cancer would not have been found until it spread and was inoperable.

In 1992 my sister was diagnosed with glioblastoma multiforma brain cancer only when she got such a bad headache that her husband took her to the emergency room. The tumor was the size of a grapefruit when they took it out the first time - but they could not get it all with surgery and chemo. It recurred and the second attempt was no better with more side effects. She lasted eighteen months after diagnosis.

In 2006 my brother in law was diagnosed with stage IV pancreatic cancer. Although he'd been complaining of abdominal problems for years they did not find it until it was too late to operate. Aggressive chemotherapy prolonged his life for a little over a year but his quality of life suffered for that time.

A simple, and theoretically cheap, blood test that could find hidden cancers would be wonderful!

[qazplm135]

4. absolutely

as you say so many cancers don't reveal themselves until it's too late symptomatically.