The Race to Diagnose Cancer With a Simple Blood Test. Liquid biopsies could transform cancer care as we know it. “This is one of the hottest areas in all of medicine." it’s much better than detecting it a few years from now when you can’t do anything about it. Five years ago, a team of researchers pored over the results of a prenatal genetic test given to more than 125,000 healthy pregnant women and made a stunning discovery.
The blood test, marketed by gene-sequencing giant Illumina, was designed to detect chromosome anomalies associated with conditions such as Down syndrome by analyzing fragments of fetal DNA circulating in the mother’s blood. In 3,757 of the tests, the scientists found at least one abnormality. But in 10 of those cases, further analysis revealed that the fetuses were in fact normal. Catching cancer early, when it has the best chance of being cured with surgery,…
