Researchers have developed a "highly sensitive" blood test for breast cancer

the trial was one of the first to successfully monitor breast cancer patients with early-stage diseases, and could be up to 100 times more sensitive than existing trials, according to a study published in the journal Science Translational Medicine.
Researchers at the Genomics Institute and the Mayo Clinic in Arizona have teamed up with scientists at the Cambridge Institute's Cancer Institute to develop a new way to track breast cancer that could one day help doctors better tailor treatment options and avoid unnecessary surgery for some people with the disease.
TARDIS (TARgeted DIgitial Sequencing) - a technique that works by analyzing circulating tumor DNA or tiny pieces of DNA from cancer cells in the blood. This means that one day the test will allow doctors to use blood samples to continuously monitor the effectiveness of breast cancer treatment - allowing them to personalize each patient's treatment plan.
In the first validation study, researchers analyzed 80 blood samples from 33 female patients with early and localized advanced breast cancer and found that the trial was able to identify each patient's circulating tumor DNA before starting treatment.
As a result, the researchers performed further blood tests on 22 female patients treated before surgery, such as chemotherapy, radiotherapy or hormone therapy. The trial found that patients who did not have breast cancer cell residues at the time of surgery had lower levels of circulating tumor DNA than those with breast cancer cell residues.
"Until now, blood tests for breast cancer have been sensitive enough to reliably identify a patient's advanced tumor DNA disease," said lead author Dr. Mohammed Murtaza, co-director of the TGen Invasive Diagnostic Center.
he went on to explain, "The organization has demonstrated that TARDIS can detect very low concentrations of circulating DNA in the blood, opening up the possibility of monitoring early breast cancer patients to understand how their disease responds to treatment." The
TARDIS is more accurate than other cancer blood tests because it looks for specific DNA sequences for each patient's cancer. The test relies on the first traditional biopsy of the tumor - a sample of the tumor is taken with a needle. Tumor DNA is then sequenced and biometrics are used to identify possible mutations in all cancer cells.
In the UK, the vast majority (about 95%) of breast cancer cases in patients with known stages of diagnosis are diagnosed in the early or local late stage (Phase I-III). （cyy123.com）