The researchers identified changes in blood proteins two years before breast cancer diagnosis

BARCELONA, Spain: Researchers have found that levels of specific proteins in people's blood have changed
as early as two years before they are diagnosed with breast cancer.
The study was presented
at the 13th European Breast Cancer Conference.
It could become the basis for blood tests for people with a genetic predisposition or a family history of breast cancer to ensure that the disease is diagnosed early when the chances
of survival are greatest.

Ms.
Sophie Hagenaars from Leiden University Medical Center in the Netherlands published the findings from the Early Serum Breast Cancer Trial (TESTBREAST) study
.
The TESTBREAST study, initiated in 2011 by Prof.
Rob Tollenaar and Dr.
Wilma Mesker, currently includes 1174 women
at high risk of breast cancer due to a family history or carrying genetic variants known to increase breast cancer risk.
The women were treated at nine hospitals across the Netherlands, where they underwent breast exams at a younger age and more often
than others in the Netherlands with an average breast cancer risk.
The study has been going on for 10 years, and the women involved in the study were given blood samples
at least once a year when they were screened.
Anyone with breast cancer will also provide a sample
at the time of diagnosis.
The researchers used a well-established technique called mass spectrometry to analyze the levels of
different proteins in women's blood.
They looked at both the differences between different women and the changes
that individual women produce over time.
So far, researchers have analyzed in detail 30 blood samples taken over a period of time from three women diagnosed with breast cancer and three women without breast cancer and found significant differences
between these women over time.
This revealed a group of 6 proteins that were at high or low levels
one to two years before diagnosis.

Ms Hagenaars said: "These proteins can be used as the basis for blood tests for the early detection of breast cancer
in high-risk women.
Remarkably, we found more
variation in protein levels in women's blood samples compared to the same woman with breast cancer.
This suggests that testing should probably be based on different proteins between women with and without breast cancer, as well as proteins
that change in individuals over time.
"THE RESEARCHERS WILL NOW VALIDATE THEIR FINDINGS
IN A LARGER GROUP OF WOMEN PARTICIPATING IN THE TESTBREAST STUDY AND OTHER HIGH-RISK BREAST CANCER STUDIES.
" Ms Hagenaars added: "If further research confirms our findings, this test could complement existing screening techniques
.
"

Blood tests are relatively simple and not particularly painful for most people, so people can be screened
as often as needed.
Dr.
Laura Biganzoli, co-chair of the European Breast Cancer Conference and director of the Breast Center at Santo Stefano Hospital in Prato, Italy, was not involved in the study
.
"Women at high risk of breast cancer participate in screening programs
at fixed points in time," she said.
If this research eventually leads to blood tests for people at high risk of breast cancer, it could guide personalized screening and help diagnose breast cancer
at the earliest possible stage.
”