December 7, 2018.
A few years ago, this test was unthinkable and yet, researchers have just developed a blood test capable of revealing whether the patient has cancer.
A test to detect cancer in minutes
This is news that could revolutionize research around cancer and more precisely, improve its screening. Australian researchers at the University of Queensland have just published the results of their discovery: a blood test that detects in ten minutes the presence or not of cancer.
The research, published on December 5 in the journal Nature Communications, suggest that if this screening method arrives on the market, it will be cheaper, shorter and less invasive than biopsies currently practiced: a portion of the patient’s tumor is taken to study it and find out if it is cancerous or not.
Reliable results for 90 out of 100 patients
“ Cancer is an extremely complicated and variable disease, it was difficult to find a signature common to all cancers, distinct from healthy cells. », Explains Abu Sina, researcher at the University of Queensland. And yet the results are encouraging: this blood test reacted successfully in 90% of the cases studied.
In concrete terms, how does that work ? The blood is immersed in a mixture of water and rose-colored gold nanoparticles. If the DNA of cancer cells sticks to gold and the mixture remains pink within ten minutes, then we have cancer. On the other hand, if we are in the presence of healthy cells, the liquid turns blue.
Maylis Choné
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