when they die. MCED tests look for the trace amounts of tumor DNA in the bloodstream. This circulating “cell-free” DNA contains information about what type of tissue it came from and whether it is normal or cancerous.– a fancy way of saying blood tests – are already widely used for patients with advanced-stage cancer. Doctors use these blood tests to look for mutations in the tumor DNA that help guide treatment.
Scientists are using strands of DNA that circulate in the blood as a way to detect early-stage cancer. MCED tests are different from existing liquid biopsies because they are trying to detect early-stage cancer, when there aren’t that many tumor cells yet. Detecting these cancer cells can be challenging early on because noncancer cells also shed DNA into the bloodstream. Since most of the circulating DNA in the bloodstream comes from noncancer cells, detecting the presence of a few molecules of cancer DNA is like finding a needle in a haystack.
Making things even more difficult, blood cells shed abnormal DNA naturally with aging, and these strands can be confused for circulating cancer DNA. This phenomenon, known asFortunately, newer tests are able to
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