text_1: The test that reveals cancer sooner
text_2: This news release describes findings from a retrospective study on a blood test marketed for the early detection of cancer, in this case asbestos-related malignant mesothelioma. The test screens for the presence of the protein ENOX2 which researchers say exists only on the surface of a malignant cancer cell. The MorNuCo company is “elated to share” news about this “exciting” ONCOblot cancer marker blood test. To make sure you don’t miss the “exciting” point, the word is used three times in a release that is only nine sentences long. The release falls short on data and relies on fear-mongering to engage people worried about cancer risk because of exposure to asbestos. The release flogs the myth that early detection is always a good thing, thus raising false hopes. To give powerful cancer treatments too soon, or even unnecessarily, does enormous harm, justified only if the potential benefit is clear. Not only does this study of the ONCOblot test fail to provide any evidence that early detection could provide a benefit to people exposed to asbestos (most of whom will never get mesothelioma), the retrospective study of a few people who have been diagnosed with mesothelioma cannot even demonstrate that the test could reliably predict who is likely to develop the disease, something that will have to be tested by prospective studies. The authors of the study noted the following in their conclusions: “As with all biomarker studies, these observations require validation in a larger, independent cohort of patients and should include prospective as well as retrospective sampling.” The news release failed to communicate that message.