Swore. Soon a simple blood test to detect lung cancer? | Weekly 39

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A simple blood test to detect lung cancer, a major advance at Besançon University Hospital ©DR
A promising step forward

Lung cancer is a common cancer with a poor prognosis. It is the leading cause of cancer death worldwide. The current reference examination is low-dose CT, but early detection is still too low. It also leads to numerous false positives which are very anxiety-provoking for the patient. Much research is currently focused on the detection, in the blood circulation, of specific biomarkers of lung cancer. Detection remains complex, as biomarkers are very poorly concentrated in the blood.

Identify the most discriminating targets in the blood

Doctor Zohair Selmani and Doctor Alexis Overs, doctors at Besançon University Hospital, have developed a computer script “MethylSCan” (specific methylation of cancers) to analyze public biological databases of various cancers. Their algorithm integrates liquid biopsies. Data from approximately 400 patients was analyzed with more than 450,000 potential targets each.

The objective is to keep only the most discriminating targets. Around a hundred were selected to constitute tumor biomarkers detectable at infinitesimal doses.

Biologically validated biomarkers

This essential phase was developed with the EPIGENExp platform of the University of Franche-Comté and the Dijon University Hospital. The test was carried out on 40 blood samples from 20 healthy subjects and 20 patients. In 95% of cases, tumor traces were detected in patients with lung cancer and none in healthy subjects. The first preliminary results are conclusive, supporting the validation of the system.

Towards less invasive precision medicine

This major medical advance could be used for patient monitoring and extended to other cancers (colon, pancreas, prostate, ovaries). Researchers want to generalize its use and thus detect the disease earlier. Finally, it is a lung cancer monitoring tool that is as minimally invasive as possible for patients through a simple blood test. And a less burdensome and less expensive alternative for the healthcare system.

Yves Quemeneur