Israeli researchers have developed a simple, fast, $60 blood test for diagnosing lung cancer that eliminates the need for costly DNA sequencing.
In peer-reviewed research of 103 participants, the test accurately identified 93 percent of stage 2-4 lung cancers while ruling out cancer in 90 percent of the healthy control group. Using fluorescent light, the scientists analyzed chemical patterns on DNA fragments circulating in the bloodstream.
The research was led by scientists at Tel Aviv University’s School of Chemistry in collaboration with JaxBio Technologies, and physicians at Haifa’s Bnai Zion Medical Center and Sheba Medical Center near Tel Aviv.
detect a tumor’s biological fingerprint. (Courtesy/Tel Aviv University)
Israeli researchers have developed a simple, fast, $60 blood test for diagnosing lung cancer that eliminates the need for costly DNA sequencing.
In peer-reviewed research of 103 participants, the test accurately identified 93 percent of stage 2-4 lung cancers while ruling out cancer in 90 percent of the healthy control group. Using fluorescent light, the scientists analyzed chemical patterns on DNA fragments circulating in the bloodstream.
The research was led by scientists at Tel Aviv University’s School of Chemistry in collaboration with JaxBio Technologies, and physicians at Haifa’s Bnai Zion Medical Center and Sheba Medical Center near Tel Aviv.
“Lung cancer is one of the most fatal cancers and one of the most common cancers,” said Dr. Abed Agbarya, director of the oncology department at Bnei Zion Medical Center, lead author of the study and its main clinical researcher. He told The Times of Israel during a Zoom interview, “Most people arrive in the last stages of the disease. If we can discover the disease in its early stages, we can go to surgery. We can go to a full cure. The five-year survival rate would be much better.”
