Researcher getting closer to liquid biopsy for cancer

Scientists have developed a blood test that identifies tiny bits of cancer-specific DNA in blood that accurately identified more than half of 138 people with relatively early-stage colorectal, breast, lung and ovarian cancers.

The research performed on blood and tumor tissue samples from 200 people with all stages of cancer in the U.S., Denmark and the Netherlands, appears in the Aug. 16 issue of Science Translational Medicine. 

Overall, the scientists were able to detect 86 of 138 (62 percent) stage I and II cancers. Broken down by cancer type the test showed that:

• Of 42 people with with stage I colorectal cancer, the test correctly predicted cancer in four of the eight patients (50 percent) , eight of nine (89 percent) with stage II disease, nine of 10 (90 percent) with stage III and 14 of 15 (93 percent) with stage IV disease. 
• Of 71 people with stage I lung cancer, the test identified cancer among 13 of 29 (45 percent) 23 of 32 (72 percent) with stage II disease, three of four (75 percent) with stage III disease and five of six (83 percent) with stage IV cancer. 
• Of 42 patients with stage I disease ovarian cancer the test identified 16 of 24 (67 percent), three of four (75 percent) with stage II disease, six of eight (75 percent) with stage III cancer and five of six (83 percent) with stage IV disease. 
• Of 45 breast cancer patients, the test spotted cancer-derived mutations in two of three (67 percent) patients with stage I disease, 17 of 29 (59 percent) with stage II disease and six of 13 (46 percent) with stage III cancers. 

The goal according to Jillian Phallen, a graduate student at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center who was involved in the research, is to develop a screening test that is highly specific for cancer and accurate enough to detect the cancer when present, while reducing the risk of "false positive" results that often lead to unnecessary overtesting and overtreatments.

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