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Australian researchers announced Wednesday, July 18, 2018 that they have developed a blood test to screen for melanoma at an early stage, stating that it is a " World Premiere " that could save many lives. The scientists at Edith Cowan University, whose work is published in the journal Oncotarget explain that this test could help doctors detect melanoma, an aggressive skin cancer, before it occurs. spread in the body
Melanoma: 90% chance of cure in case of early detection, against 50% if not
One in three cancers detected is skin cancer, according to the World Health Organization. Australia has one of the highest prevalences of melanoma in the world. In France, according to the National Cancer Institute (Inca), 50 to 70% of skin cancers are directly related to overexposure to UV. " In total, there are 60,000 new carcinomas and 7,000 new cases of melanoma that are diagnosed each year in France ," lists the Inca. Clearly more common (90% of cases), carcinomas are also the most curable skin cancers. More rare (about 1% of skin cancers), " melanoma is the most dangerous skin cancer because it can become widespread " and " represents the leading cause of death of women from 25 to 29 years old ". " Two-thirds of melanomas occur on healthy skins without pre-existing moles!", warns Inca.
However, if detected early, melanoma can be cured in 90% of cases, according to the Inca. " Patients whose melanoma is detected at an early stage have a five-year survival rate between 90 and 99%," said in a statement the director of the study Pauline Zaenker. In the opposite case, this rate falls to less than 50%, and up to 15 to 20% in the case of late detection. " That's why this blood test is so promising as a potential detection tool because it can detect melanoma in the very early phase, when it is still treatable ", she adds. Currently, the diagnosis is based on a clinical examination by a doctor. In case of suspicious lesion, it is removed surgically and biopsied. " While clinicians do a fantastic job with the tools available, relying on biopsies alone can be problematic, we know that three out of four biopsies are negative for melanoma ," says Pauline Zaenker, de 'as much as' biopsies are very invasive, with a minimum of 1 cm by 1 cm of excised skin of the patient "
79% of early melanomas detected by the test
Test put developed by researchers to identify autoantibodies produced by a patient in response to cancer. " We examined a total of 1,627 different types of antibodies to identify a combination of 10 antibodies that are the best indicators of the presence of melanoma in affected patients compared to healthy volunteers ," continued the researcher. Scientists tested 105 patients with primary melanoma and 104 healthy people. The test detected early-stage melanoma in 79% of cases
Sanchia Aranda, Executive Director of Cancer Council Australia, found the research promising for high-risk individuals who must routinely dermatological screenings. She pointed out that it does not detect other more common but less dangerous cancers such as basal cell carcinoma. " People must be very aware of the possible damage to their skin caused by the sun, and be very careful about the slightest change in the appearance of their pimples or moles ", she also said. declared. Researchers must conduct another three-year clinical trial to validate their findings, hoping to have a test that could be used by physicians.
OTHER CANCERS . A test called CancerSEEK was published in January 2018. It allowed, by a simple blood test also, to detect cancers of the bad, ovary, liver, stomach, pancreas and esophagus in 33% to 98% of the cases according to the organs. This test was based not on antibodies, but on the detection of 16 DNA fragments and 8 proteins from cancer cells.
With AFP.
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