Blood test could detect lung cancer, study finds

During the study, experts from the toxicology unit of the British Medical Research Council used mice carrying a KRAS gene mutation to model pre-cancerous stages of lung cancer.

The researchers regularly performed CT scans to monitor the development of small, precancerous lung tumors in rodents.

The team found that mice with cancerous lung tumors had higher levels of circulating DNA than healthy animals, and that the levels of DNA released into the blood by cancer tumors correlated with the size of the cancer cells. tumors observed on the scanner.

After badyzing the circulating DNA to determine the presence of the precise KRAS mutation responsible for tumor development, the specialists discovered that, in the later stages of tumor development where the tumor was still precancerous, the KRAS mutation could still be detected in traffic. DNA

The lead author of the study, Miguel Martins, believes that similar studies should be conducted on mice with precancerous lesions in other tissues to determine if circulating DNA could to be used in the early detection of the disease in patients.

Lung cancer is the leading cause of death from this disease in the world, mainly because of the difficulty in detecting it at an early stage.

lrg / jha / lrc