Breast cancer could be detected up to five years before there are clinical signs in the body by a simple blood test . This test shows the body’s immune response to antigens produced by cancer cells. Broadly speaking: if there are autoantibodies in the blood, there are antigens; and if there are antigens, they will indicate the presence of cancer cells. But let’s go by parts to understand it better.
Cancer cells make proteins called antigens in the body. The body, for its part, makes antibodies to fight them called autoantibodies. Well, a team of researchers from the University of Nottingham (United Kingdom) has discovered that these antigens could be good indicators of the presence of cancer. Researchers have developed panels of antigens associated with breast cancer tumors to, through blood tests, see if there is an immune response from the body (autoantibodies).
In the study, which was recently presented at the 2019 NCRI Cancer Conference in Glasgow, UK, the research group took blood samples from 90 women at the time of their breast cancer diagnosis and compared them with samples belonging to 90 other women, this time without the disease.
They then screened the samples for autoantibodies against the 40 antigens associated with breast cancer tumors and also against 27 antigens that were not known to be related to the disease.
The researchers tried analyzing panels of five, seven and nine antigens to observe the body’s immune response. The panel of nine tumor-associated antigens was the one with the best results, and it was that it correctly identified the disease in 37% of the samples from patients with breast cancer . In healthy patient samples, it was 79% correct.
Although the researchers are happy with the results obtained, since they open the door to the early detection of breast cancer through a simple blood test, they recognize that they need to further develop and validate the test . In this sense, they are currently analyzing samples from 800 patients in a panel of nine antigens.
According to Alfattani, a doctoral student in the research group group that has participated in the 2019 NCRI Conference, the blood test would be a non-invasive, cheaper and easily implementable test compared to current breast cancer prevention methods. If the program were funded 100%, the researchers feel that in four or five years the test would be a reality.
Similar tests are being studied for the early detection of lung, pancreas, colorectal and cancer tumors at the Center of Excellence for Autoimmunity in Cancer at the University of Nottingham Medical School, to which this research group belongs. liver, the most common along with breast cancer.
