Cancer, A Lab Tech 's Perspective: 7/29/12

Friday, August 3, 2012

A New Lab Test Detecting Early Stage of Breast Cancer

What would it mean to women to know that a lab test was available to detect early breast cancer in conjunction with a mammogram? This would definitely give them confidence that the report is very accurate.

Breast cancer is the fear of most women because it is the number one cause of cancer death in this population

Great news has opened up for detecting a protein that is on the surface of breast cancer cells. The name of the protein is Nodal.

In the new research, the scientists monitored a group of laboratory mice that were designed to serve as models of breast cancer. Once the disease manifested itself, the researchers experimented by turning off expression of Nodal, a protein that is normally found on stem cells but also exists on the surface of breast cancer cells. Shutting down this protein caused the blood vessels that nourished the tumors to collapse, depriving the malignant tissue of the resources it needs to survive.

"Ultimately it would be nice to target Nodal in patients who already have quite advanced, well-vascularized tumors as a new option for therapy," said lead study author Daniela Quail. "Currently, patients like this don't have many options."

In the U.S., more than 228,000 individuals will be diagnosed with breast cancer in 2012, according to the National Cancer Institute. A lab test may help with early detection.