DNA-Based Test Can Spot Cancer Recurrence a Year Before Conventional Scans (theguardian.com)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Guardian: A revolutionary blood test has been shown to diagnose the recurrence of cancer up to a year in advance of conventional scans in a major lung cancer trial. The test, known as a liquid biopsy, could buy crucial time for doctors by indicating that cancer is growing in the body when tumors are not yet detectable on CT scans and long before the patient becomes aware of physical symptoms. It works by detecting free-floating mutated DNA, released into the bloodstream by dying cancer cells. In the trial of 100 lung cancer patients, scientists saw precipitous rises in tumor DNA in the blood of patients who would go on to relapse months, or even a year, later. In the latest trial, reported in the journal Nature, 100 patients with non-small cell lung cancer were followed from diagnosis through surgery and chemotherapy, having blood tests every six to eight weeks. By analyzing the patchwork of genetic faults in cells across each tumor, scientists created personalized genomic templates for each patient. This was then compared to the DNA floating in their blood, to assess whether a fraction of it matched that seen in their tumor.

Comments

Raquel Welch already did this

[turkeydance]

free-floating in 1966

Re:Not buying it.

[Jzanu]

You are just another wacko, so stop with the snake-oil mysticism. Real people need scientifically proven medical treatment that keeps them from dying a grisly and preventable death. Your "viewpoint" dooms people to early death full of unnecessary pain and suffering.

age

[bugs2squash]

If I just put a blood sample in the freezer at home would it act as a usable baseline if I needed a test in the future ? Or does it deteriorate too quickly. I see the cold case files where they do dna tests on evidence from 20 years ago, surely that's just held on a shelf in a warehouse.

Re:age

[TimothyHollins]

Putting DNA directly into the freezer is not recommended, but you can "freeze" it with formalin and then embed it in paraffin for longterm storage (FFPE). This works fine for DNA, and is used all over the world for biobanking.

I'd recommend taking a biopsy though, from a stable region (not sun-drenched skin).

Re:so what

[Applehu Akbar]

Ir will cost too much to use.

This discovery took place at Cambridge, as in "Oxford and..." That means that our role will not be to make it cost too much, but to sneer "Theranos! Theranos!" until we are assured that none of our venture capitalists will consider funding it.

Tumor Genome Similarity?

[mentil]

It sounds like they sequence the genome of your known tumors, and then search for similarity to that genome in your blood. I'm wondering if, by sequencing your non-mutated genome, and then searching for dissimilar genomes in the blood (screening out pathogens etc.), cancer could be diagnosed by blood in persons who hadn't yet been diagnosed with cancer.
I also wonder how the effectiveness of this compares to the 'lab on chip' solutions that use blood samples to diagnose cancer.

Re:Tumor Genome Similarity?

[ItsJustAPseudonym]

They have found a way to take a known sample of one thing (a tumor), and search specifically for that one thing, with notable success. "Notable success" being defined as low-ish probabilities of false-positives and misses.

What you are describing seems to be much, much harder, specifically searching for "all other things". I would expect the rate of false-positives and misses to be very much larger. Also, the idea sounds tantamount to the common "white-blood-cell count" that is regularly done with blood tests.

IANAD, by the way.

is that useful?

[ooloorie]

In the trial of 100 lung cancer patients, scientists saw precipitous rises in tumor DNA in the blood of patients who would go on to relapse months, or even a year, later. In the latest trial

I suppose if the DNA test comes back negative, you don't have to X-ray or you can scrutinize the X-ray more carefully. But, still, it doesn't seem all that useful.

Re:is that useful?

[mentil]

If you take a DNA test and it comes back negative, you may want to speak to a xenobiologist.

Rest assured

[forty-2]

this will be used to help determine the best course of treatment for you, after they calculated your new insurance premium

Re:Rest assured

[Miser]

Don't have any mod points, wish I did. You're damn straight this will be abused.

This is also why I don't participate in those genealogy studies that want your DNA sample. F that. Once that data is out of your custody you have no idea what they do with it, agreements be damned.

WOAW, something impressive for a change ...

[KingBenny]

soon available in a hospital near you, ALAS b/c it needs to be profitable by then your uncle who's Bob, is dead ...