text_1: 'Universal' blood test for earlier diagnosis of cancer moves closer to market
text_2: Blood tests have become a popular study focus among scientists seeking mechanisms for early detection of cancer. Researchers have come up with a number of tests in recent years that examine a variety of components of blood, among them types of blood cells, proteins, and the presence of mutated DNA. Most of the tests are specific to particular cancers and vary in their levels of accuracy. In this release, a team at the University of Bradford heralds the increasing accuracy of a test that measures the response of white blood cells exposed to ultraviolet light. The test, called TumorScan, uses an automated cell reader designed by a Paris-based company, IMSTAR, to examine thousands of cells from any one sample, and the researchers say that they have found the process can detect the presence of any type of cancer with more than 90% success. IMSTAR has now licensed the university team’s technology and plans to bring the text to market some time in the future. The release touts the potential benefits without addressing some real concerns: Technology like this is enabling us to find more and more cancers at an earlier stage, but we are often unable to differentiate between the ones that need to be treated and those that can be monitored or ignored. While the news release didn’t need to go into great detail about this, it should at least acknowledge the downsides. Finding cancer at an early stage via a blood test may improve survival rates, and reduce the need for invasive biopsies. However, it’s important to keep in mind that all cancer screening tests carry the risks of false-positives, false-negatives and overdiagnosis and treatment of non-growing or slow-growing cancer.