DNA Test Unveils Potential to Identify 18 Early Stage Cancers

Scientists have discovered a simple DNA test that can detect 18 early-stage malignancies, which experts believe might be a “gamechanger” in medicine.

Cancer causes one out of every six deaths worldwide, although early detection can greatly improve outcomes. Existing screening techniques have limitations such as invasiveness, high cost, and low accuracy for early-stage disease.

Now, US researchers have developed a test that analyzes proteins in the blood and can detect 18 early-stage malignancies, representing all major organs in the human body.

Specific blood proteins might already be utilized for early detection and monitoring. Still, tests have hitherto lacked sensitivity (ability to identify cancer) and specificity (ability to exclude cancer), according to the researchers.

The scientists from the US biotech firm Novelna stated that their test outperformed others based on tumor DNA in the blood and had “a sensitivity much greater” than the Galleri test being tested on the NHS in the UK.

The scientists were able to distinguish cancer samples from normal ones and even distinct types of malignancies “with high accuracy” by looking at proteins in blood plasma, they claimed. The study also discovered that cancer protein signals are likely to be sex specific.

In a paper published in BMJ Oncology, the scientists noted “This finding is the foundation for a multi-cancer screening test for the early detection of 18 solid tumours that cover all major human organs of origin for such cancers at the earliest stage of their development with high accuracy.”

They went on to say: “This could re-shape screening guidelines, making this plasma test a standard part of routine check-ups.”

“These findings pave the way for a cost-effective, highly accurate, multi-cancer screening test that can be implemented on a population-wide scale.”

Blood plasma samples were taken from 440 persons diagnosed with 18 distinct forms of cancer, as well as 44 healthy volunteers. The team then identified proteins that indicated early-stage malignancies and where they originated in the body “with high accuracy”.

The scientists wrote: “At stage I (the earliest cancer stage) and with 99% specificity, our panels were able to identify 93% of cancers in males and 84% of cancers in females.”

“Our sex-specific localisation panels consisted of 150 proteins and were able to identify the tissue of origin of most cancers in more than 80% of cases.”

Study Highlights Potential for Innovative Blood Test

Analysis of the plasma protein also revealed that practically all of them were present at extremely low levels. According to the team, this demonstrates the usefulness of low-level proteins in detecting pre-cancerous and early stage disease before a tumour has caused significant damage.

However, the scientists stated that its modest sample size necessitated future research in larger groups of people. Dr. Mangesh Thorat, of the Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine’s Centre for Cancer Prevention, who was not involved in the study, stated that further research was needed to answer questions regarding the test.

“However, the interesting aspects of this assay are a much higher sensitivity for stage I cancers than other similar assays in development and gender-specific performance differences which are biologically and clinically relevant,” he went on to note.

“If the assay performance in future, well-designed sequential studies is anywhere close to what this preliminary study suggests, then it could really be a gamechanger.”

Prof. Paul Pharoah, a cancer epidemiology expert at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center who was not involved in the study, praised the findings but advised caution.

“Simple blood tests that can detect many different cancers in the early stages (test is sensitive) and do not generate false positives (test is specific) are a holy grail for early detection,” he added.

“This paper reports on the preliminary findings from the development of one such test. While the results are promising, it is far too early to say if this test will be effective for early cancer detection.

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