Blood Tests To Detect Cancer

A less invasive alternative to surgical biopsy to identify and track serious diseases is now in the works.
Researchers are using biomarkers—like certain antibodies and proteins—to diagnose several serious diseases, including prostate cancer, pancreatic cancer and mesothelioma, asbestos-related lung cancer.

Prostate cancer researchers in England have developed a way to detect autoantibodies in blood samples long before symptoms begin. Not only do researchers claim it’s more accurate than current methods—a rectal examination and prostate specific antigen (PSA) test—but it would do away with biopsies. It should also increase survival rates, since men could be treated much earlier.