WEDNESDAY, June 10, 2020 -- A cutting-edge"lab-on-a-chip" has shown promise in detecting early breast cancers and tumors that have developed in other parts of the body.
Xu and his colleagues tested their lab-on-a-chip by equipping one of its channels to look for MMP14, an enzyme released by tumors that has been linked to cancer progression. The enzyme attacks healthy cells in ways that seem to promote the spread of cancer.with 97% accuracy in a first group of 30 people and 93% in a second group of 70 people.
This new technology is one of many efforts to develop a"liquid biopsy" that would use blood tests to find cancer, said Dr. Bill Cance, chief medical and scientific officer with the American Cancer Society. "They need to be as close to 100% accurate as you can get," Cance said."That said, if a patient could get a blood test that could detect whether you have a cancer and at what stage, that would be such a useful screening tool."