How MethylScan Blood Test Detects Cancer Early: Medical science is rapidly reaching a stage where a simple blood test can indicate many major diseases. An important step in this direction has been taken by researchers from the University of California, Los Angeles, who have developed a new test, which can help in early detection of many diseases including cancer. Let us tell you what has come out in the research.
What came out in the research?
This research has been published in the prestigious journal Proceedings of National Academy of Science, in which it has been told that the entire health of the body can be assessed through just one blood sample. Early detection has been the biggest challenge in the medical field. If diseases like cancer are caught in time, their treatment becomes much easier. But the tests that exist so far often focus on a single disease and are often expensive or inconvenient.
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What name was given to this technology?
This new technology has been named “MethylScan”. This test analyzes small fragments of DNA present in the blood. This DNA comes from different cells of the body and when the cells are destroyed, they leave their information in the blood. The specialty of this test is that it reads the methylation pattern present in DNA. These are such chemical markers, which keep changing according to the condition of the cells. That is, the methylation patterns of healthy and sick cells are different, which can be identified and indicate the disease.
What was done to deal with the difficulties?
A major problem with blood-based testing is that most of the DNA in the blood is from normal cells, which makes it difficult to find signs of real disease. This is called background noise. To deal with this challenge, researchers adopted a new technique, which removed unnecessary DNA and focused only on essential and informative DNA. This increased the accuracy of the test and also reduced the cost. In this study, tests were conducted on more than 1000 people, which included cancer patients, people suffering from liver disease and healthy people. The data was understood with the help of advanced computer analysis.
What was the result?
The results were quite encouraging. The test identified about 63 percent of cancer cases overall and caught more than half of the early-stage cases. Especially in cases of liver cancer, its detection rate in the high-risk group was about 80 percent. Another great feature of this test is that it can also tell which part of the body is affected. This helps doctors to direct further investigation in the right direction. However, this technology is still in its initial stages and requires further testing on a larger scale before it can be put into general use.
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Disclaimer: This information is based on research studies and expert opinion. Do not consider this as a substitute for medical advice. Before adopting any new activity or exercise, please consult your doctor or relevant specialist.
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