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Blood test could detect cancer signs, control health costs

Category: Cancer Detection and Tumor Markers

In the quest to reduce healthcare costs and make treatment more efficient, scientists at the Yale Institute for Nanoscience and Quantum Engineering have investigated a type of blood test they believe can detect signs of prostate and breast cancers.

According to the researchers, minuscule nanosensors can indentify biomarkers for prostate and breast cancer and may help doctors diagnose the condition through quick, low-cost testing, ANTARA news reports.

"From a personalized medicine point of view, you could take a spot of blood from a finger prick and get results within minutes," said William Phelps, program director of Translational and Preclinical Cancer Research at the American Cancer Society.

He added, "It would be simple, stable and relatively inexpensive."
Notably, the nanosensor blood test developed in the study was able to detect biomarkers in actual patient blood samples, whereas past technologies have only picked up the warning signs in purified solutions.

According to Phelps, the testing innovation was made possible in large part to the Human Genome Project, which identified the entire genetic structure of humans, pointing out genes often expressed in cancer patients.

According to the National Institutes of Health, clinical tests currently approved for accurate diagnoses of cancer include genetic testing, CT scans, blood tests, magnetic resonance imaging and mammograms.