One of the invited speakers of the Kemomind science conference is Pedro Pinto, PhD researcher from the Cancer Genetics Group,IPO-Porto Research Center, Portugal.
Their short abstract review published online by Cambridge University talking about liquid biopsy. Circulating cell-free DNA (cfDNA) consists of small fragments of DNA that circulate freely in the bloodstream. In cancer patients, a fraction of cfDNA is derived from tumour cells, therefore containing the same genetic and epigenetic alterations, and is termed circulating cell-free tumour DNA. The potential use of cfDNA, the so-called ‘liquid biopsy’, as a non-invasive cancer biomarker has recently received a lot of attention.
The UK Telegraf published an overview artical of blood test, that could detect more than 20 types of cancer, allowing cases to be identified and treated far earlier (tudy lead author, Dr Geoffrey Oxnard of Boston's Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, part of Harvard Medical School).
Experts said the breakthrough - which spots changes in the genes, as disease develops - could be used to improve screening for cancer, allowing treatment much sooner, when it is more likely to succeed. Crucially, 99.4 % cases identified as cancer were correctly spotted - meaning just 0.6 % of cases were misdiagnoses of healthy patients.
The test was able to detect one third of patients with stage one disease, and three quarters of those with stage two disease.
More about the article you can find here: LINK
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