Diagnosis of cancer before the onset of the disease

The body screams about cancerNikolay Gorodetsky, "Newspaper.
Ru»Scientists from the University of Nottingham and the Oncimmune research company have announced a "paradigm shift" in the diagnosis of cancer.

Developed by them for fifteen years with the involvement of about eight thousand people, the method allows detecting cancer in the human body for up to five years before the appearance of tumors. To do this, it is enough for scientists to take a blood test from a person and use it to detect the first signals of his immune system associated with the symptoms of cancer in the body.

Timely diagnosis of cancer allows doctors to gain an important advantage in the treatment of this disease. Currently, doctors often identify cancer when the disease is already at a serious stage of development. So, in the case of lung cancer, the tumor at the time of its detection can reach the size of a tennis ball. On average, even the earliest successful cancer monitoring can detect a tumor at the moment when the cells have passed the division stage about 20 times, and a person usually dies after 40 divisions.

The analysis proposed by scientists from Nottingham is to determine the antibodies that the human immune system produces in response to the molecular signs of cancer cell growth. These signs are a protein – antigen produced by cells. 10 milliliters of blood is enough to detect this immune response.

First of all, the method of Nottingham scientists, called EarlyCDT-Lung, allows for early diagnosis of lung cancer. Such a procedure was developed specifically for this type of cancer, therefore, the main clients of doctors who will be given this analysis are people from 40 to 75 years old who either smoke most of their lives, or quit smoking not so long ago. In addition, lung cancer can be caused by other causes – contact with exposure to radioactive substances (in particular, radon) and living in regions with a polluted atmosphere.

Scientists believe that this technique, with a little refinement, can be used in the near future to detect colon, ovarian and breast cancer.

"We are beginning to see and understand carcinogenesis at a stage that we have never seen before," Professor John Robertson, one of the leaders of the study, told The Times. – We are looking at how the immune system reacts to the actions of cancer cells. It's the same as if the body itself screams that there is cancer in it."

The results of the study will be presented at the annual conference of the American Society of Clinical Oncology in Chicago next week. In the USA, this technology will be used starting next month, and in the UK from the beginning of next year. The estimated cost of the procedure for one person is about 300 pounds.

Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru02.06.2010