Claim: 'Universal' blood test for earlier diagnosis of cancer moves closer to market
Verdict: REFUTES

Retrieved passages:
title: Cancer screening
text: Cancer screening Cancer screening aims to detect cancer before symptoms appear. This may involve blood tests, urine tests, DNA tests other tests, or medical imaging. The benefits of screening in terms of cancer prevention, early detection and subsequent treatment must be weighed against any harms. Universal screening, also known as mass screening or population screening, involves screening everyone, usually within a specific age group. Selective screening identifies people who are known to be at higher risk of developing cancer, such as people with a family history of cancer. Screening can lead to false positive results and subsequent invasive procedures. Screening

title: Cancer screening
text: cancer and be subjected to potentially dangerous investigations. Cancer screening Cancer screening aims to detect cancer before symptoms appear. This may involve blood tests, urine tests, DNA tests other tests, or medical imaging. The benefits of screening in terms of cancer prevention, early detection and subsequent treatment must be weighed against any harms. Universal screening, also known as mass screening or population screening, involves screening everyone, usually within a specific age group. Selective screening identifies people who are known to be at higher risk of developing cancer, such as people with a family history of cancer. Screening can lead to

title: Cancer
text: noticeable symptoms appear. This may involve physical examination, blood or urine tests or medical imaging. Cancer screening is not available for many types of cancers. Even when tests are available, they may not be recommended for everyone. "Universal screening" or "mass screening" involves screening everyone. "Selective screening" identifies people who are at higher risk, such as people with a family history. Several factors are considered to determine whether the benefits of screening outweigh the risks and the costs of screening. These factors include: The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) issues recommendations for various cancers: Screens for gastric cancer using

title: Biopsy
text: on the stage of tumor progression, treatment effectiveness, and cancer metastasis risk. This technological development could make it possible to diagnose and manage cancer from repeated blood tests rather than from a traditional biopsy. Circulating tumor cell tests are under development by Epic Sciences. The tests analyze circulating tumor cells (CTCs) Analysis of individual CTCs demonstrated a high level of heterogeneity seen at the single cell level for both protein expression and protein localization and the CTCs reflected both the primary biopsy and the changes seen in the metastatic sites. Analysis of cell-free circulating tumor DNA (cfDNA) has an advantage

title: Cancer research
text: usually more difficult to treat in later stages. Accurate detection of cancer is also important because false positives can cause harm from unnecessary medical procedures. Some screening protocols are currently not accurate (such as prostate-specific antigen testing). Others such as a colonoscopy or mammogram are unpleasant and as a result some patients may opt out. Active research is underway to address all these problems. One approach is blood screening for a wide variety of tumor markers. Research published in "Cell" suggests future cancer diagnostics to be accomplished at an early stage with a single drop of blood. Emerging topics of

title: Cancer screening
text: women for breast cancer in an attempt to achieve an earlier diagnosis. The assumption is that early detection will improve outcomes. A number of screening tests have been employed, including clinical and self breast exams, mammography, genetic screening, ultrasound, and magnetic resonance imaging. The use of mammography in universal screening for breast cancer is controversial as it may not reduce all-cause mortality and for causing harms through unnecessary treatments and medical procedures. Many national organizations recommend it for most older women. Cervical screening by the Pap test or other methods is highly effective at detecting and preventing cervical cancer, although

title: Molecular diagnostics
text: for lifetime risk of breast cancer. Also, some cancers are not always employed with clear symptoms. It is useful to analyze people when they do not show obvious symptoms and thus can detect cancer at early stages. For example, the ColoGuard test may be used to screen people over 55 years old for colorectal cancer. Cancer is a longtime-scale disease with various progression steps, molecular diagnostics tools can be used for prognosis of cancer progression. For example, the OncoType Dx test by Genomic Health can estimate risk of breast cancer. Their technology can inform patients to seek chemotherapy when necessary

title: Biopsy
text: test. A 2014 study of the blood of 846 patients with 15 different types of cancer in 24 institutions was able to detect the presence of cancer DNA in the body. They found tumor DNA in the blood of more than 80 percent of patients with metastatic cancers and about 47 percent of those with localized tumors. The test does not indicate the tumor site(s) or other information about the tumor. The test did not produce false positives. Such tests may also be useful to assess whether malignant cells remain in patients whose tumors have been surgically removed. Up to

title: Circulating tumor cell
text: biopsy" which reveals metastasis in action, providing live information about the patient's disease status. Analysis of blood samples found a propensity for increased CTC detection as the disease progressed in individual patients. Blood tests are easy and safe to perform and multiple samples can be taken over time. By contrast, analysis of solid tumors necessitates invasive procedures that might limit patient compliance. The ability to monitor the disease progression over time could facilitate appropriate modification to a patient's therapy, potentially improving their prognosis and quality of life. The important aspect of the ability to prognose the future progression of the

title: Cancer prevention
text: sugar molecules attached made by their tumors, suggesting that antitumor antibodies in the blood may be a source of sensitive biomarkers for cancer detection 2010 - Initial Results of the Lung Cancer Screening Trial (NLST) Released. Initial results show that screening with low-dose helical computerized tomography (CT) reduced lung cancer deaths by about 20% among current and former heavy smokers 2011 - Lung Results from the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal and Ovarian (PLCO) Cancer Screening Trial Released 2011 - Ovarian Results from the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal and Ovarian (PLCO) Cancer Screening Trial Released. PLCO results show that screening for ovarian cancer

title: Circulating tumor cell
text: cells in a blood sample. The test uses an in-vitro diagnostic system developed at INSERM, the Université Paris Descartes and Assistance Publique Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP) in order to isolate cancer cells from blood without loss and identify them through a diagnostic cytopathology-based approach. CTCs are pivotal to understanding the biology of metastasis and promise potential as a biomarker to noninvasively evaluate tumor progression and response to treatment. However, isolation and characterization of CTCs represent a major technological challenge, since CTCs make up a minute number of the total cells in circulating blood, 1–10 CTCs per mL of whole blood

title: Noninvasive genotyping
text: cancer. Circulating tumor DNA can be found in the blood before metastasis occurs and, therefore, detection of certain mutant alleles may enhance survival rates in cancer patients. In a recent study, ctDNA was shown to be "a broadly applicable, sensitive, and specific biomarker that can be used for a variety of clinical and research purposes in patients with multiple different types of cancer". This technique is often referred to as a liquid biopsy, and has not been widely implemented in clinical settings although its impact could be quite large. Although blood-borne ctDNA remains the most clinically significant noninvasive cancer detection,

title: Cancer prevention
text: with transvaginal ultrasound (TVU) and the CA-125 blood test did not result in fewer deaths from the disease compared with usual care 2012 - Colorectal Results from the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal and Ovarian (PLCO) Cancer Screening Trial Released. Results confirm that screening people 55 years of age and older for colorectal cancer using flexible sigmoidoscopy reduces colorectal cancer incidence and mortality 2013 - NCI Community Oncology Research Program (NCORP) Approved for Start, opening the way for the program to bring state-of-the art cancer prevention, control, treatment and imaging clinical trials, cancer care delivery research, and disparities studies to individuals in

title: Breast cancer screening
text: fair evidence of benefit. About 2% of American women have family histories that indicate an increased risk of having a medically significant BRCA mutation. TBIA (Total Biochemistry Infra-red Analysis) is a new technology for breast cancer screening based on the immune system's respond to the tumor. It is a blood test that can detect cancer at early stages as well as distinguish benign from malignant tumors. the test is based on the fact that cells from the immune system that pass through a tumor change and can be found everywhere in the body and identified in early stages of cancer.

title: EN2 (gene)
text: reliable than current methods that use prostate-specific antigen (PSA). If effective, a urine test is considered easier and less embarrassing for the patient than blood tests or rectal examinations and, therefore, less likely to discourage early diagnosis. At the time of the report, it was not clear whether or not the EN2 test could distinguish between aggressive tumours that would require intervention and relatively benign ones that would not. The EN2 test for prostate cancer has been licensed to Zeus Scientific, as they reported in March 2013. In that announcement they said they expected the test to be submitted to

title: Breast imaging
text: positive findings." The authors conclude that the time has come to re-assess whether universal mammography screening should be recommended for any age group. They thus state that universal screening may not be reasonable. The Nordic Cochrane Collection, which in 2012 reviews updated research to state that advances in diagnosis and treatment make mammography screening less effective today. They state screening is “no longer effective.” They conclude that “it therefore no longer seems reasonable to attend” for breast cancer screening at any age, and warn of misleading information on the internet. Mammography has a false-negative (missed cancer) rate of between 7

title: Biopsy
text: over circulating tumor cells assays in that there is approximately 100 times more cell-free DNA than there is DNA in circulating tumor cells. These tests analyze fragments of tumor-cell DNA that are continuously shed by tumors into the bloodstream. Companies offering cfDNA next generation sequencing testing include Personal Genome Diagnostics and Guardant Health. These tests are moving into widespread use when a tissue biopsy has insufficient material for DNA testing or when it is not safe to do an invasive biopsy procedure, according to a recent report of results on over 15,000 advanced cancer patients sequenced with the Guardant Health

title: Cancer in the United Kingdom
text: Radiologists said, ‘Well-resourced testing services are crucial to the early diagnosis of cancer, which in turn is vital to increase survival from the disease.' Cancer Research UK is calling on the government to provide funding for earlier diagnosis of cancer as prompt diagnosis increases the chances the patient will survive. Many physicians in the United Kingdom are at least tolerant of alternative treatments and some might recommend them. Cancer in the United Kingdom The passing of the Cancer Act 1939 marked the political significance of cancer treatment. It envisaged a system of co-ordination of diagnosis and treatment under the control

title: Liquid biopsy
text: blood. Tumor-related circulating-free DNA, RNA or proteins are released by tumor cells and circulate in the blood of cancer patients. Therefore, assays using these molecules can be used for early tumor detection, monitoring or detection of resistance mutations. Liquid biopsy A liquid biopsy, also known as fluid biopsy or fluid phase biopsy, is the sampling and analysis of non-solid biological tissue, primarily blood. Like traditional biopsy this type of technique is mainly used as a diagnostic and monitoring tool for diseases such as cancer, with the added benefit of being largely non-invasive. Therefore, it can also be done more frequently

title: Circulating free DNA
text: to huge advancements in noninvasive cancer detection. Most notably, it has led to what is now known as Liquid Biopsy. In short, liquid biopsy is using biomarkers and cancer cells in the blood as a means of diagnosing cancer type and stage. This type of biopsy is noninvasive and allows for the routine clinical screening that is important in determining cancer relapse after initial treatment. cfDNA purification is prone to contamination due to ruptured blood cells during the purification process. Because of this, different purification methods can lead to significantly different cfDNA extraction yields. At the moment, typical purification methods