Blood test spots recurring breast cancer

SCIENCEDAILY – April 16, 2014 – Researchers have developed a blood test that accurately detects the presence of advanced breast cancer that is spreading, or metastasizing. It also holds promise of allowing doctors to see whether the cancer is responding to treatment. Called the cMethDNA assay, the test detects so-called hypermethyation, a type of chemical action in one or more of the breast cancer-specific genes present in tumor DNA. Hypermethylation often blocks genes that check runaway cell growth. Its appearance in the DNA of breast cancer-related genes in the blood indicates that cancer has returned or spread. In a study in the April 15 issue of the journal Cancer Research, the test was up to 95 percent accurate in distinguishing patients with metastatic breast cancer from healthy women.

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