Loading
The first prospective interventional study of a multi-analyte blood test (CancerSEEK) in asymptomatic people: 26 cancers were first detected by the blood test, most of them localised, and the test roughly doubled the number of cancers caught by standard screening.
DETECT-A enrolled 10,006 women aged 65-75 with no history of cancer in the Geisinger health system. A blood test measuring mutations in cell-free DNA and protein markers (CancerSEEK) was performed; a confirmed positive led to whole-body PET-CT, and imaging-positive participants were referred for diagnosis.
Twenty-six cancers were detected by the blood test, of which 17 were localised or regional and 12 were treated with surgery with intent to cure. Standard-of-care screening detected a further 24 cancers, so combining the blood test with existing screening roughly doubled detection (from about a quarter to about half of incident cancers). Fewer than 1% of participants had an unnecessary invasive procedure.
It proved that a blood-first screening pathway can be safely operationalised and that many blood-detected cancers are at a curable stage.
A blood test can find early, treatable cancers in people who feel well, including cancers for which no screening exists. It is not a replacement for mammography or colonoscopy but a possible addition. Larger randomised trials are needed to show benefit outweighs harm.
Shares Nickolas Papadopoulos, DETECT-A: a blood test plus PET-CT to screen 10,006 women with no symptoms, Kenneth W. Kinzler, Bert Vogelstein.
Shares Nickolas Papadopoulos, Bert Vogelstein, Cell-free DNA (cfDNA), Multi-cancer early detection (MCED).
Shares DETECT-A: a blood test plus PET-CT to screen 10,006 women with no symptoms, Positive predictive value (PPV), Cell-free DNA (cfDNA), Stage shift.
Shares Nickolas Papadopoulos, Kenneth W. Kinzler, Bert Vogelstein, Science.
Shares PATHFINDER: the first prospective test of a multi-cancer blood test in people without symptoms, Positive predictive value (PPV), Multi-cancer early detection (MCED), Overdiagnosis and false alarms.
Shares Kenneth W. Kinzler, Bert Vogelstein, Cell-free DNA (cfDNA), Johns Hopkins Hospital / Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center.
Shares Positive predictive value (PPV), Stage shift, Multi-cancer early detection (MCED), Overdiagnosis and false alarms.
Shares Kenneth W. Kinzler, Bert Vogelstein, Science, Johns Hopkins Hospital / Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center.