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Scientists have developed a DNA test that may diagnose fatal breast cancer one year earlier than current methods. Changes in a part of DNA, which the researchers named EFC#93, suggests early warning signs of life-threatening breast cancer. These changes occur in patients’ blood before their cancer becomes detectable in their breast tissue.
A study revealed among women who have EFC#93 in their blood, 43 per cent were diagnosed with a life-threatening form of breast cancer three-to-six months later, while 25 per cent were diagnosed within six-to-12 months.
Markers such as EFC#93 provide a highly specific indicator that could diagnose fatal breast cancers up to one year in advance of current diagnosis. This may enable individualised treatment, which could even begin in the absence of radiological evidence in the breast.
The researchers analysed EFC#93 in blood samples from breast cancer patients taken both after surgery but before chemotherapy and once chemotherapy was complete. They demonstrated DNA change in samples taken before chemotherapy as a marker for poor prognosis even if cancer cells are not yet circulating in the body.
To assess whether EFC#93 can diagnose women with a poor prognosis earlier, the researchers then analysed samples of 925 healthy women, of which 229 went on to develop life-threatening breast cancer, while 231 got non-fatal forms of the disease within three years.
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