Scientists developing breath test for cancer
A new breath test can detect changes in cells that indicate potential cancer
group of researchers from Sheffield Hallam
A University believes that an aggressive form of cancer can be detected earlier through a simple breath test as cancerous cells give off compounds that can be detected in breath.
The test works by identifying volatile organic compounds( VOCs) in the breath, and if cancer or other conditions are present, the normal behaviour of cells is altered and they appear to produce a different pattern of molecules as well as a different signature smell.
The scientists are also working on a test to spot other signs of cancer, including mesothelioma, a disease primarily affecting the lungs and predominantly caused by exposure to asbestos. The tests have been developed in a laboratory on cells that have been treated with asbestos.
With an investment of more than £ 70,000( US $ 88,200) in the project, Cancer Research UK said the findings could also potentially help detect other cancers linked to inflammation, including laryngeal and ovarian cancer.
Dr Sarah Haywood-Small, the associate head of the university’ s School of Biosciences and Chemistry, said more research was still needed, but initial results showed the team was on track to develop a more effective diagnostic approach.
The science behind the test itself is not new. Many researchers around the world have been working on breath tests for a number of cancers, including lung, for a number of years. There are some promising signs that breath tests will be able to detect precancerous symptoms, but their accuracy is still uncertain.
A new pancreatic cancer blood test is able to spot the disease early
With 98 percent accuracy, the new test can distinguish healthy patients from those with pancreatic cancer
Researchers in the US have designed a new test, called PAC-MANN, that is believed to be able to pick up signs of pancreatic cancer in people’ s blood, even at an early stage, according to a February report in Science Translational Medicine.
“ The test could one day give doctors a simple way to catch the disease early, before it’ s too late for treatment,” says study coauthor Dr Jared Fischer, a molecular biologist at Oregon Health and Science University( OHSU) in Portland.
PAC-MANN, which stands for“ protease activitybased assay using a magnetic nanosensor,” uses a small blood sample to detect changes in protease activity, a key indicator of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, or PDAC, the most common and deadly form of pancreatic cancer.
Pancreatic cancer is not easily detected in its early stages and is discovered mostly through biopsies and imaging tests. Just like Pac-Man chomps on ghosts in the classic 1980s videogame, some pancreatic cancer proteins, called proteases, similarly can chomp on healthy connective tissue, thus making space for cancer to grow. PAC-MANN was built to detect one of these chomping proteins.
The OHSU research team found that the PAC- MANN test was able to correctly distinguish patients with pancreatic cancer from healthy patients and those with non-cancerous pancreatic issues 98 percent of the time. It also helped spot early-stage cancer with 85 percent accuracy when used alongside a CA 19-9 test, another screening method for pancreatic cancer.
If further validated in clinical trials, PAC-MANN could become a valuable tool for catching early pancreatic cancer, giving patients more treatment options and a better chance at survival.
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