New blood test could provide early diagnosis of cancer

Scientists claimed to have developed a simple blood test, which can accurately detect the early stages of breast and lung cancer in just an hour. Researchers from the Kansas State University developed the test that can detect cancer, even before symptoms like coughing and weight loss start.

The test works by detecting increased enzyme activity in the body. Iron nanoparticles coated with amino acids and a dye, are introduced to small amounts of blood or urine from a patient. The amino acids and dye interact with enzymes in the patient’s urine or blood sample. Each type of cancer produces a specific enzyme pattern, or signature, that can be identified by doctors.

The test was developed by chemistry professor Stefan Bossmann and anatomy professor Deryl Troyer. Professor Troyer said, “Right now the people who could benefit the most are those classified as at risk for cancer, such as heavy smokers and people who have a family history of cancer. The idea is these at risk groups could go to their physician’s office quarterly or once a year, take an easy to do, non invasive test, and be told early on whether cancer has possibly developed.”

The fact that this test specifically tests for lung cancer and breast cancer, is of significant importance. The American Cancer Society estimates about 40,000 breast cancer deaths and 160,000 lung cancer deaths are expected in the United States for 2012. Also as these statistics from Cancer Research UK show below, lung and breast cancer are the two most commonly diagnosed cancers worldwide.

The 10 Most Commonly Diagnosed Cancers Worldwide:

• Lung – (13%)
• Breast – (11%)
• Colorectum – (10%)
• Stomach – (8%)
• Prostrate – (7%)
• Liver – (6%)
• Cervix – (4%)
• Oesophagus – (4%)
• Bladder – (3%)
• Non Hodgkin Lymphoma – (3%)

Unfortunately breast and lung cancer also feature in the top 5, for most common causes of death from cancer worldwide. With the exception of breast cancer, most types of cancer can be categorized in 4 stages based on tumour growth and the spread of cancer cells throughout the body. The diagnosis is made in most situations in stage 2 or 3, when the survival rate is lower than stage 1 or 2.  In addition, Bossmann said, “that very few people manage to discover they have cancer in early stages.”

Breast and lung cancer are typically found and diagnosed in stage 2, the stage when people often begin exhibiting symptoms such as pain, fatigue and coughing. Numerous studies show that the earlier cancer is detected, the greater chance a person has against the disease. “The problem, though, is that nobody knows they’re in stage 1. There is often not a red flag to warn that something is wrong. Meanwhile, the person is losing critical time,” said Professor Bossmann.

Researchers evaluated the test’s accuracy on 32 separate participants in various stages of breast or lung cancer. Data was collected from 20 people with breast cancer, ranging in age from 36 to 81 years old and 12 people with lung cancer, ranging in age from 27 to 63 years old.

Twelve people without cancer were also tested as a control group. This group ranged in age from 26 to 62 years old. A blood sample from each participant was tested three times. Analysis of the data showed a 95 percent success rate in detecting cancer in participants.

Bossmann said, “These enzyme patterns can also help distinguish between cancer and an infection or other diseases, which commonly occur in the human body. For example, a person who smokes a lot of cigars may develop an inflammation in their lungs. That will drive up some of the markers in the test but not all of them. Doctors will be able to see whether there was too much smoke inhalation or if there is something more serious going on. False positives are something that we really want to avoid.”

In addition to early detection, the test can be used to monitor cancer and observe the effectiveness of drugs, as a patient is being treated. Similarly, doctors can use the dye in the test to determine if the entirety of a tumour has been successfully removed from a patient after surgery. The researchers have designed a second testing method that is anticipated to produce the same results in about five minutes. Also, researchers want to develop a similar test to detect pancreatic cancer earlier.

CSI technology fiction becomes reality

Many of us have seen the popular television series CSI, CSI Miami and CSI New York. During the programmes we will have seen the forensic scientists using portable instruments to obtain instant fingerprint analysis, obtain DNA matches from blood samples and detect chemical traces from clothes.

Now whilst all of this can sometimes seem far fetched, as usually to do this sort of analysis you would need a room sized laboratory instrument, this may be set to change. As was reported in the March 25^th 2008 edition of Science Daily, there was a large gap between the fiction of CSI programmes and the reality of modern day technology.

Now however a scientific instrument featured on CSI for instant fingerprint analysis is forging another life in real world medicine, helping during brain surgery and ensuring that cancer patients get effective doses of chemotherapy, a scientist said in Philadelphia today.

The report on instruments that miniaturize room-size laboratory devices the size of a shoe box was part of the 244^th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society.

During the exposition Dr Graham Cooks, the lead researcher said: “With both of the instruments we developed, no sample preparation is needed, which reduces analysis time from as much as several hours per sample to just a few seconds. Rapid results are critical when a surgeon is operating on a brain tumour, or when chemotherapy patients are being treated with powerful drugs that must be administered at precise levels.”

The instrument called a desorption electrospray ionization mass spectrometer, or DESI, was featured on both CSI and CSI: Miami as a tool to analyse fingerprints. However, this portable instrument can do so much more. It’s about the size of a shoe box and does not change or destroy the sample that is analysed.

The team used DESI to identify biomarkers for prostate cancer and to detect melamine, a potentially toxic substance that showed up in infant formulas inChinain 2008. In addition, DESI can detect explosives on luggage. Now, the team at Purdue University is teaming up with collaborators led by Nathalie Y. R. Agar, Ph.D., at Harvard University to test the instrument in the operating room during brain cancer surgery, comparing it with the gold standard, traditional analysis of tissue samples by pathologists.

“These pathology procedures are among the longest of all surgical operations, and this new technology offers the promise of reducing the time patients are under anaesthesia. DESI can analyse tissue samples and help determine the type of brain cancer, the stage and the concentration of tumour cells. It also can help surgeons identify the margins of the tumour to assure that they remove as much of the tumour as possible. These are early days, but the analysis looks promising.”

The other instrument under development is a Paper Spray Ionization Mass Spectrometer. The researchers are using this new device to monitor the levels of chemotherapy drugs in patient’s blood in real time. Many cancer drugs have relatively narrow therapeutic ranges, so they need to be in the blood at certain levels to work properly. However at present that information is not obtained in real time, so a patient could end up with too little or too much of the drug in his or her body.

Currently Cooks team is testing to see whether DESI can provide different information, compared to what pathologists can provide by looking at human tissues under a microscope. In addition, the researchers are testing Paper Spray on patient’s blood samples, though Cooks points out that the device also could measure the levels of drugs of abuse or pharmaceuticals, in urine or other body fluids.

So it maybe that next you watch an episode of CSI what you may be seeing is not some fancy, far fetched gadgetry of the future, but rather a modern piece of equipment that is being currently used to help both diagnose and treat serious medical conditions.