Genetics has uncovered incredible diversity among different cancer cells, leading scientists and researchers to give up the hope of finding a single silver bullet to cure all types of cancer. Instead, it seems as though they may be turning their efforts towards finding a single test to diagnose all types of cancer.
The test would look for markers of cancer in the patient’s blood, where the process of tumor-making leaves a trail that can often be picked up before tumors are big enough to spot. There are various types of nucleic acid in the blood stream that can belie cancer, and the research challenge is how to find and identify them without running the cost up so high that the tests become useless as the general diagnostic tool they hope to be.
“Right now, in terms of a universal cancer blood test, there is none. There are many people looking at that. People are trying to isolate that specific particle using different methods,” explained Raj Krishnan, the founder and CEO of Biological Dynamics, one company trying to be the first to offer a comprehensive cancer diagnostic test based on a blood sample.
Read the full, original story: Researchers, startups hope one drop of blood could diagnose all types of cancer
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