Hopes of fresh tool to help in cancer diagnosis

A NEW diagnostic tool to pick up signs of advanced breast cancer may be on its way following work led by researcher from Hull University.
By The Newsroom
Published 21st Jan 2013, 06:00 BST

Biomedical scientist Dr Justin Sturge led a team at Imperial College London to carry out the first ever in-human investigation of how a protein called Endo180 shows in the bloodstream of patients with breast cancer.

The team discovered that in patients with metastatic breast cancer – cancer which has spread – a significant elevation in the amount of Endo180 in the blood was recorded.

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By analysing the different levels of the protein in the blood of a specially selected group of patients, researchers were able to predict the presence of advanced cancer much more accurately than with current blood tests.

Dr Sturge, said: “Previous studies had shown that the protein had a role in transporting cancer cells from the main site, but nobody had looked to see whether or not this protein was released into the bloodstream.”