A blood test would be able to detect the risk of recurrence of melanoma, according to the results of a study published in the medical journal Cancer Discovery. Thanks to the identification of two genes such as RNA and PI3K, blood analysis can identify the likelihood of relapse of this Cancer.
Cancer Research UK researchers analyzed 364 samples from 214 patients with a melanoma. The sequencing of their DNA has made it possible to identify two genes, RNA and PI3K, which provide information on responses to therapy and make it possible to monitor resistance mechanisms. Thanks to this discovery, scientists have developed a blood test capable of diagnosing the risk of recurrence of the melanoma cancer. An important medical advance because “most patients with melanoma respond to treatment at the start, but their cancer generally becomes resistant in the first year of treatment”, explains the lead author, Professor Richard Marais, cancer specialist of the skin at Cancer Research.
Take into account the risk of relapse
Cutaneous melanoma is one form of skin cancer the rarest (it represents about 10% of cases) but also the most serious due to its very high capacity to metastasize. It develops from the pigment cells present in the skin.
“Being able to spot the first signs of relapse, so that we can quickly decide on the best treatment strategy, is an important step both for research and for clinical practice. We hope that we will soon be able to spot recurrence of the disease. However, we still have to test the approach in other clinical trials before moving to clinical practice, ”concludes lead author Professor Richard Marais, skin cancer specialist at Cancer Research.
Skin cancer in France
Each year, there are 90,000 new cases of skin cancer and 1,000 people die from melanoma. 9,780 cases were estimated in 2011 and more and more people are affected in those under 40. This type of cancer can be easily cured if it is detected in time, but too often these melanomas go unnoticed, because they are mistaken for benign moles.
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