Scientists have developed a new test that can reveal when cancer began and how quickly it is progressing, helping doctors predict when treatment will be needed.
Diego Mallo, a researcher with the Biodesign Center for Biocomputing, Security and Society at Arizona State University, joins a study led by the Institute of Cancer Research, London, and the Hospital Clinic-IDIBAPS Biomedical Research Institute of Barcelona, Spain. Their findings, published Wednesday in the journal Nature, introduce a novel technique to track the evolutionary history of a tumor from a single sample.
The new technique, which involves analyzing subtle changes in tumor DNA called methylation, has been tested successfully on different types of blood cancer. The team hopes that it can work across many types of cancer, offering the prospect of better prediction of disease progression and ongoing monitoring, reducing the need for repeated, invasive biopsies.
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