5 ms·
This Nature paper, Non-invasive early detection of cancer four years before conventional diagnosis using a blood test https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-0
by yellowcake0 6y ago
This Nature paper,
Non-invasive early detection of cancer four years before conventional diagnosis using a blood test
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-17316-z https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-17316-z
Major breakthrough in cell-free diagnostics. The methylation pattern of DNA can be used to identify early-stage cancer, i.e. circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) has a distinct methylation pattern.
The results are based on data from a ten year study which must have cost a fortune to run.
- benrapscallion 6y agoSmall correction: the paper is in Nature Communications and not Nature.
- petra 6y agoThat's great news! So now after we know that, what are the treatment options at that stage ?
- Throwaway1771 6y agoStop eating sugar, and bolster immune system should be first steps.
- ashudeep 6y agoWhat's with the sugar?
- yellowcake0 6y agoProbably many of the same ones that are used in the later stages. My understanding is that the prognosis is much better the earlier one begins treatment.
- phobosanomaly 6y agoCombine that with the breakthrough in protein folding and mRNA vaccines and we could have a rapid pipeline for custom, targeted immunotherapies for not just new bugs, but new cancers.
- eurasiantiger 6y agoSo we could, in principle, selectively demethylate those regions of DNA and cure some cancers?
- yellowcake0 6y agoCancer isn't caused by abnormal methylation patterns. The ctDNA are just fragments of DNA which have been shed by the tumor and are now circulating in the blood stream.