ISTOCK, BET_NOIRE
Researchers at Johns Hopkins University have developed a blood test that that can detect signs of eight different types of cancer, according to preliminary trial results published last week (January 18) in Science.
The new diagnostic, dubbed CancerSEEK, is one of many liquid biopsies that have sprung up in recent years. It works by screening patients’ blood for the presence of eight protein biomarkers and mutations in 16 genes.
The team found that the test successfully detected cancer in about 70 percent of 1,005 patients with non-metastasized tumors in the ovary, liver, stomach, pancreas, esophagus, colorectum, lung, or breast. The test’s sensitivity ranged from 33 percent for breast cancer to 98 percent for ovarian cancer. Around 63 percent of the time, the test could even ...
