Trials of a method for diagnosing cancer using blood analysis have shown promising results, according to a team of British and American scientists working on the project. A new development was announced in the spring of 2020. Using a simple blood test, scientists hope to detect more than 50 types of cancer at an early stage, before symptoms appear.
Large-scale trials will begin in 2021 in the United Kingdom and the United States. British scientists report that out of five thousand people observed by general practitioners with suspected symptoms in England and Wales, the test accurately detected cancer in two out of three cases. In 85% of cases, it also correctly identified the location of the tumor.
The mechanism of the test, known as “Gallery,” consists of searching for signs of chemical changes that enter the bloodstream from the tumor, in the genetic code – DNA. Scientists emphasize that work on the methodology is far from being completed, but after the first stage of testing it can be said that the number of saved patients will increase. The test will also reduce the burden on the healthcare systems of the countries in which it is performed.
For example, scientists from the University of Oxford say that currently a patient who goes to the doctor with symptoms such as weight loss should undergo a comprehensive examination and a series of tests to determine the causes of their condition. Scientists hope that with the help of “Gallery” it will soon be possible to quickly eliminate the most dangerous cause.
Although a negative result is not currently a 100 percent guarantee that there is no disease in the body, 2.5 percent of participants with symptoms whose tests did not detect cancer were subsequently found to have cancer using traditional diagnostic methods such as scans and biopsies. The developers of “Gallery” consider the elimination of this bug as their priority in further work on the project.
The test is particularly effective in detecting difficult-to-detect cancers such as head and neck, colorectal, lung, pancreatic, and throat cancers. Initial test results will be summarized in a separate report later, but scientists are already talking about success.
The UK’s National Health Service (NHS) plans to expand trials of the method to a further one million people in 2024 and 2025. “Early detection of cancer is crucial and this test can help us detect more cancers at an earlier stage and save thousands of lives,” said Professor Peter Johnson, Head of NHS Oncology.
The development method and research were conducted by a group of American scientists from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School in collaboration with British researchers from the Francis Crick Institute and University College London. Their findings were published in Annals of Oncology, a peer-reviewed journal published by the University of Oxford. The project is funded by Grail, a Silicon Valley startup whose investors include Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.