Current methods of cancer diagnostic are based on the identification of biomarkers – molecules which reveal a particular state or process in the body – produced by the tumor or associated proteins. Unsurprisingly, these markers are more abundant once the tumor has already developed significantly. And the more the tumor is advanced, the more difficult it is to find effective treatment options.
Now, a team led by Gonçalo Bernardes, head of the Translational Chemical Biology Group at the National Cancer Research Center (CNIO) Spanish, has developed a test that can detect solid tumors at an early stage with just a blood sample. In addition, the test also provides relevant information for choosing treatment. The study was published in the scientific journal Nature communications.
Study the proteins that react to cancer
To reach this early detection, the team led by the Portuguese researcher concentrated the test not on the markers produced by the tumor, but on the defensive reaction of the body to cancer. Since the 19th century, we know that the emergence of cancer cells has caused changes in the immune system, and it was also known that these changes are more intense in the first stages of cancer. But they had never been used for the diagnosis. The new study focuses on them, in particular changes in blood proteins derived from disruption by immune system cancer.
Our approach has proven to be particularly effective in detecting tumors at an early stage, which is crucial because, if we detect them early, we can treat many types of cancer. “”
Gonçalo Bernardes, head of the Translational Chemical Biology Group at the National Cancer Research Center Spanish
Artificial intelligence to search for models
But this approach posed a problem for the team: human blood contains more than 5,000 proteins, which makes analysis extremely difficult. They therefore used bioinformatics analysis and reduced the scope of the study to five amino acids: lysine, tryptophan, tyrosine, cysteine and cysteine not linked to disulfide links.
They then subjected the sample to reactions which emit fluorescence when the light is applied to them – the fluorogenic reactions – and revealed the exact concentration of each of these amino acids in the plasma. Using the automatic learning of artificial intelligence tools, they have identified models of these concentrations that could be translated into diagnostic signals.
As they explain in the published article, they applied this technique to samples of 170 patients and were able to identify 78% of cancers with a 0% false rate.
Bernardes also points out that the test is easy to use, requiring only a small blood sample and the use of simple reagents that can be found in any hospital. To make the diagnosis, the team led by Bernardes, also a professor at the University of Cambridge (United Kingdom), develops a platform that will analyze the data.
Other diseases and response to treatment
The samples studied so far did not belong exclusively to cancer people: “It is very important to note”, explains Gonçalo Bernardes, “that by analyzing the samples of patients with other diseases, we have found that the signals are different. For example, the immune signals of a person with Sars-Cavid are different from the divergent person, such as signals are different from different types of cancer and even cancer. With our test.
And these unique signals for each type of cancer also provide other information of enormous interest in clinical practice: if the patient will respond or not to certain treatments. The article describes that the test predicts with 100% precision that a patient would not respond to anti-metastatic treatment. When he predicted that a patient would react, the precision was 87%. Therefore, the authors claim that the test could also be used for precision medicine in the choice of treatments.
A sample of 170 patients has been sufficient to obtain the study so far, but the researcher recognizes that much more data is necessary to complete the commercial development of the test. To this end, two clinical trials are already underway in the United Kingdom-funded by the United Kingdom National Health System-and a number of other trials are underway in countries such as the United States and China. Once developed, the platform should be marketed through a spin off Cambridge company called Ltd Proteotype, which Bernardes co-founded with other authors.
