Liquid Biopsy Recognizes Single Cancer Cell in Blood

A simple blood test will reveal cancer at extremely low levels in blood. Scientists are developing a liquid biopsy test that will recognize a single cancer cell in blood among a billion normal cells. The new test will make monitoring cancer in patients easier and more accurate. This hypersensitive cancer test could someday offer an efficient, tolerable alternative to needle biopsies, mammograms, and colonoscopies.

Cancers shed cells into the bloodstream, and scientists are working on the sensitive, noninvasive liquid biopsy test for them when they are present at very low levels. The new technology passes a very small blood sample through a microchip coated with antibodies that bind only to the cancer cells.

Current tools for tracking cancer are not always sensitive enough to answer the most pressing question for doctors and patients: has the cancer gone? Scientists from Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center (Boston, MA, USA) together with healthcare company Johnson & Johnson (New Brunswick, NJ, USA) believe the new test that they are developing, might be able to detect cancer before it shows up on scans.

"It would be most helpful for patients with prostate, bladder, colon, kidney, and lung cancer, in addition to breast cancers," said Dr. Christopher Logothetis at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center (Houston, TX, USA).

In addition to detecting recurrences sooner, the test may allow doctors to examine the cancer cell itself and tailor therapies to a particular patient. Four sites across the country are beginning to use the new test on patients. The test is expected to become widely available in three to five years.

The research is supported by a $15 million grant from "Stand Up to Cancer," (please see Related Links below).

Related Links:
Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center
Johnson & Johnson
University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
Stand Up To Cancer