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Simple blood test that predicts if breast cancer is likely to return
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The University of Alberta researchers tested blood samples taken from women when they had been diagnosed with breast cancer year’s previously. A simple blood test could predict if the most common form of breast cancer will come back after treatment, say scientists.
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With it making up around 60 per cent of the cases of breast cancer diagnosed each year, it still accounts for a substantial number of relapses and deaths.
By providing an early warning the technique would spare some women unnecessary treatment with gruelling anti-cancer drugs.Comparing the DNA of samples taken from women whose cancer had returned with DNA of samples from women who had remained in remission flagged up genetic changes linked to the cancer coming back
Researcher Sambasivarao Damaraju said if we can accurately predict which women are at high risk of breast cancer recurrence, it gives the physicians and oncologists treating these women time to design a more aggressive therapy in the hopes of preventing the cancer from coming back. Other predictor tests in development use the genes from the cancer itself. But the Canadian researchers believe their technique will be more accurate as it uses the DNA a person is born with to work out if they have a predisposition to breast cancer recurring.
It is hoped that in future, the test could be used alongside traditional microscopic techniques to improve the way breast cancer patients are treated.
More research and several years of large-scale testing is needed before the test is marketed.
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Translator: nnhanh
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