Private MD News

Improvements in cancer testing reduce deaths

Category: Breast

For individuals who have recently had a cancer test, finding out that they are positive for the disease can be a difficult time, However, detection and treatment methods have steadily improved for most cancers, greatly improving their survivability.

For example, a team of researchers from Canada recently developed a new cancer test that can detect the presence of breast cancer at an earlier stage when the disease is more treatable.

The study identified a specific protein that is involved in the ability of cancer cells to spread throughout the body, and suggested that future treatments may be able to target this protein to prevent cancer cells from metastasizing.

Dr Yves St. Pierre, the study's lead author, said that she "believes that lower survival rates and increased metastases in mice injected with breast cancer cells overexpressing [the protein] are related to its ability to protect from [cell death]."

Breast cancer is the second most common cause of cancer deaths in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. However, improvements in testing have greatly decreased the lethality of the disease.