Is a Cure for Cancer Around the Corner? By Dr.

Manny Alvarez

Dr. Manny Alvarez A blood test so sensitive that it can spot a single cancer cell lurking among a billion healthy ones is moving one step closer to being available at your doctor's office. Boston scientists who invented the test and health care giant Johnson & Johnson announced Monday that they are joining forces to bring it to market. Four big cancer centers will also start studies using the experimental test this year. Stray cancer cells in the blood mean that a tumor has spread or is likely to, many doctors believe. A test that can capture such cells has the potential to transform care for many types of cancer, especially breast, prostate, colon and lung. This is one of the most exciting developments in cancer research in the past decade. The field of cancer medicine is constantly evolving, and this is a very positive way to enter the New Year. Back in September of 2010, we aired a special called Fox News Reporting: Winning the War on Cancer, where we interviewed some of the countrys leading authorities in cancer research. A common theme among all of our experts was that we have already come a long way over the past 40 years in the way we diagnose and treat cancer, and that we are going to see things change dramatically over the next several years in a positive direction. This exciting news supports those predictions and gives hope to the millions of people touched by cancer every day. Another important development that we covered in the special was the benefits of individualized medicine, because as we know, no two patients are alike. A test like this brings us closer to being able to look at the structure of cancer cells in patients and customize their treatment, rather than taking a global approach in which failure rates have been clearly documented. Cancer patients with tumors have cancer cells circulating in their blood stream, so inventors of this new test say it acts like a liquid biopsy, without the need for invasive tissue sampling. In the future, they hope it will offer a way to screen for cancer aside from the methods used now. But one of the immediate effects we could see as early as this year, is doctors being able to monitor cell levels and adjust treatments for the best outcomes.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/health/2011/01/03/cure-cancer-corner/#ixzz1V0iZx2yF

New 'liquid biopsy' blood test can detect ONE cancerous cell in a BILLION By FIONA MACRAE Last updated at 9:44 PM on 3rd January 2011 A blood test capable of picking out a single cancer cell from among a billion healthy ones has been developed by scientists. The kit could save or extend lives by making it easier to spot tumours and helping doctors to prescribe the right drugs. Using just a couple of teaspoons of blood to track cancer would also cut the need for expensive scans and end the pain and embarrassment of biopsies and internal examinations.

Breakthrough: The new blood test is so sensitive it can detect one cancerous cell among a billion healthy ones The test, which is being developed by an American hospital in conjunction with drug giant Johnson & Johnson, is expected to be particularly useful in breast, prostate, colon and lung cancer. The four most common cancers in Britain, they account for more than half of the 300,000 cases of the disease diagnosed across the country each year. Together they claim almost 75,000 lives annually. Daniel Haber, one of the tests inventors, described it as being like a liquid biopsy that avoids painful tissue sampling and may be better than imaging scans for the regular monitoring of patients. Theres a lot of potential here, and thats why theres a lot of excitement, said Dr Mark Kris, a lung cancer expert at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Centre in New York. The test equipment consists of a piece of plastic studded with tens of thousands of bristles coated with antibodies that attract cancerous cells but not healthy ones. When blood is run over them, the cancer cells are made to glow, allowing the researchers to see them and test them.

New treatment: The Mass General works by sticking cancer cells to tiny 'bristles' on a slide which can then be counted and analysed Initially, doctors want to use the test to try to predict what treatments would be best for individual tumours. Redoing the test to check for a drop in cancer cells would then quickly show if the drug was working. If you could find out quickly, this drug is working, stay on it, or this drug is not working, try something else, that would be huge, said Dr Haber of Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. The test could also be used to detect the spread of cancer and ultimately it could provide a better way to screen for the disease than the mammograms and colonoscopies used now. Minetta Liu, a breast cancer specialist at Georgetown Universitys Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Centre in Washington DC, said: The dream is, a woman comes in for her mammogram and gets a tube of blood drawn. Nicholas Dracopoli, of Johnson & Johnson, said that the kit could be on the market in three to five years. Massachusetts General Hospital is already using it to monitor the progress of patients being given drugs for cancer. Greg Vrettos, 63, a retired engineer has the blood test every three months to monitor his lung cancer, which was diagnosed by a biopsy in 2004. He said: They could look at the number of cancer cells and see that it dropped over time. It corresponded with what the scans were showing. I think its going to be revolutionary. Last year the test showed that he had had a set-back and that his treatment need adjusting. Experiments demonstrate that the kit can find one cancer cell among a billion or more healthy cells and results have been published in leading journals, including Nature and the New England Journal of Medicine. While the new test is sensitive enough to pick out a single cancerous cell, doctors say more than one cell would be needed to be suspect before any medical decisions could be made.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1343681/New-liquid-biopsy-blood-test-detectcancerous-cell-billion.html#ixzz1V0k4k5AN

Colegio de Sta. Lourdes of Leyte Foundation, Inc. College of Nursing Tabontabon, Leyte

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SUBMITTED BY: LAUZON, JENEVA L. BSN4

SUBMITTED TO: CLINICAL INSTRUCTOR