Most cancers cannot be reliably diagnosed until symptoms begin. Although there are exceptions such as mammograms and pap smears, there are no reliable screening methods for most cancers. To improve early cancer detection, dozens of companies have devised a test method that can detect various signs of cancer in blood taken from a patient’s arm. Now, to test the practical effectiveness of these blood tests for early cancer screening, a national clinical trial in the United States is planned.
In a speech given in Boston on the 12th, President Biden of the United States said that early detection of various types of cancer through blood tests and clinical trials planned for the future are America’s ambitious plan to defeat cancer.Cancer moon shot‘was the key point. Cancer Moonshot is a federal plan to halve the number of cancer deaths in the United States over the next 25 years. President Biden’s speech this time was on the 60th anniversary of former US President John F. Kennedy’s announcement that he would send a man to the moon. The “Cancer Moonshot” project was also inspired by the US lunar exploration program.
The National Cancer Institute of the United States new clinical trialwill begin recruiting participants in 2024 and will test 24,000 healthy participants over a four-year period to see how effective the different blood test methods are in detecting cancer. If the results of the clinical trial look promising, the trial scale will be expanded by 10 times and a large-scale clinical trial will start again.
Most “multi-cancer early detection (MCED)” tests work by finding the remains of cancer cells that are destroyed after the immune system attacks them. Remains of dead cancer cells appear in the bloodstream, and even if the patient is asymptomatic, their presence can be a sign of cancer. Later, if the cancer is confirmed by imaging tests, a biopsy is also done.
There is only one type of multiple cancer early detection test (MCED) currently in use in the United States. The Galleri test, which claims to detect the first signs of over 50 cancers, is available with a prescription for $ 949. However, most insurances do not cover the Galerie test, as it is not FDA approved. Published by the developers of the Galerie test new dataAccording to The Galleri test, cancer was found in 35 of the 6,600 study participants believed to be healthy. Notably, 26 of them had cancer that was not diagnosed with regular check-ups.
Doubts remain about how to interpret the MCED test results. Only a few blood tests can tell exactly where the cancer originated in the body. To confirm the diagnosis, laboratory tests of potentially cancerous tissue must be done, but a full-body biopsy cannot be done. False positives are also a problem in the entire field of cancer screening. The Galleri test, the closest MCED test to widespread use, also mislabeled 57 healthy blood samples from the aforementioned study as having cancer.
There is also a risk that early cancer detection could lead to rushed action. Some cancers are unlikely to metastasize to other tissues or are not life-threatening, but early detection can leave patients with very difficult treatments, such as chemotherapy. Fortunately, some studies suggest that this problem can be minimized because lower-risk tumors actually appear less often in the bloodstream.
The National Cancer Institute clinical trial will help determine how to interpret blood test results to diagnose cancer. It will also provide guidance on how to start cancer screening research, with several companies flooding the field with new testing methods.
Harvard University Cancer Prevention Professor Timothy Rebbeck“Most companies would not want to compare their head-to-head testing methods with those of other companies,” he said. “It is a difficult and costly task. So we need a neutral third party like the National Cancer Institute. “
Rebeck believes the blood tests to be confirmed in the new clinical trial will be very helpful for cancers of the pancreas, liver and ovaries. Although these three cancers have a high mortality rate, there is no early diagnosis. But even if blood tests prove effective in diagnosing cancer early, long-term clinical trials will be needed to determine whether the time saved by early diagnosis can actually save lives.
However, Lebeck is optimistic about Cancer Moonshot’s ultimate goal. “The idea of halving cancer mortality seems very realistic,” she said.
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