First-of-Its-Kind Blood Test Detects Over 50 Cancer Types

Many cancers lack routine screening, so patients are often diagnosed only after tumors grow and spread, when options are limited. A faster, less invasive approach that broadens early detection could shift outcomes by finding the disease earlier. Now, a new blood-based multi-cancer test that analyzes multiple biomarker classes can enhance early cancer detection.

Exact Sciences (Madison, WI; USA) has launched Cancerguard, the first on-market multi-cancer early detection (MCED) test to assess multiple biomarker classes from a simple blood draw. The test can detect signals from cancers responsible for over 80% of U.S. diagnoses and covers 50+ cancer types and subtypes, including high-mortality diseases such as pancreatic and ovarian.

Normal cells regularly release a small amount of healthy DNA and protein into the bloodstream. If cancer is present in the body, the cancer also releases unhealthy DNA or other markers into the bloodstream. Cancerguard identifies these DNA and protein markers in the blood, thus helping find cancer earlier when it is more treatable. The Cancerguard test is intended for people aged 50-84 with no cancer diagnosis in the last 3 years.

In test-development studies, Cancerguard achieved 68% sensitivity across six of the deadliest cancers and 64% overall sensitivity (excluding breast and prostate), finding over one-third of stage I–II cases, with 97.4% specificity. Modeling suggests pairing Exact Sciences’ MCED technology with standard screening could cut stage IV diagnoses by 42% and reduce overall cancer mortality by 18% over 10 years.

“The Cancerguard test offers a critical early warning that cancer may be present and helps inform an imaging-guided pathway to diagnosis, giving people the chance to act when it matters most,” said Dr. Tom Beer, chief medical officer for multi-cancer early detection at Exact Sciences. “As adoption grows, we’ll look back and ask how we ever settled for screening for only a few cancers while letting the majority go undetected. Like the smartphone redefined communication, Cancerguard has the power to redefine cancer detection and the future of early intervention.”

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