New Medical Technique Has Promise For Early Cancer Relapse Detection

A new study^[1] published on August 26, 2005 in the Science Translational Medicine journal showed promising results for the early prediction of relapse in cancer patients. The study used a medical technique used was able to detect cancer on average of eight months earlier than doctors would have normally noticed.

The technique was revolutionary because it tracked DNA (ctDNA) mutation in the blood over time. Garcia-Murillas et al. developed the technique based on enzyme synthesis of long chains or polymers of nucleic acids to track mutations in patients with early-stage breast cancer. The mutation tracking technique accurately predicted metastatic relapse months before relapse would have normally been detected.

This technique has promise to drastically change the way cancer is monitored by introducing non-invasive “liquid biopsies” as a form of cancer detection.

The researchers in the study took tumor and blood samples from fifty-five early-stage breast cancer patients. The patients had undergone surgery and chemotherapy with the hope their cancer had been cured.

Researchers used the mutation tracking technique to monitor the patient’s blood and they found that women who had tumor DNA in their blood had twelve times the risk of relapse compared to the women who tested negative. The return of their cancer was detected on average of eight months earlier than current methods of detection would have caught.

This medical technique would offer the opportunity to address tumor DNA in the early stage of tumor development compared to eight months later when tumors have metastasized in multiple areas of the body.

Tags: cancer awareness, cancer detection