Hopes of fresh tool to help in cancer diagnosis
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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Hide AdBy 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.”