They create proof that detects tumors in early stages

A team led by a researcher of the National Oncological Research Center (CNIO) has developed a test that allows solid tumors to be detected in initial states from a simple blood sample, while also obtaining relevant information for the choice of treatment.

The study, led by Gonzalo BernardesHead of the Translational Biology Group of the National Oncological Research Center (CNIO), has been published in the scientific journal Nature Communications.

To achieve early detection, the team guided the test not to the markers issued by the tumor, but to the defensive reaction of the organism to cancer. Since the nineteenth century it is known that the appearance of cancer cells causes changes in the immune system, and it was also known that these changes are more intense in the earliest stages of cancer. But they had never used for diagnosis. The new study focuses on them, specifically on changes in blood proteins that occur when cancer alters the immune system.

“Our approach has been particularly effective to detect early tumors, which is fundamental because, if we detect them in time, we can treat many types of cancer,” he explained Bernardes.

By raising that approach, the team found a problem: human blood contains more than 5,000 proteins, which greatly hinders its analysis. Therefore, they used a bioinformatic analysis and limited the object of study to five amino acids: lysine, tryptophan, tyrosine, cysteine ​​and cysteine ​​not linked to disulfur bonds.

Then they submitted the sample to reactions that emit fluorescence when they are applied – fluorogenic – and that revealed the exact concentration of each of those amino acids in the plasma. Thanks to the artificial intelligence tool Machine Learning (Automatic learning, in Spanish) identified in these concentrations patterns that could translate into diagnostic signals.

Other diseases and treatment response

The samples studied so far did not belong exclusively to people with cancer: “It is very important to highlight that, by analyzing the samples of patients with other diseases, we have discovered that the signals are different. For example, the immunological signals of a person with SARS-COVID They are different from the signs of a person with cancer, as are the signs of the different types of cancer and even cancer in their different stages. All that can be identified with our test, “he said Bernardes.

The exclusive signals of each type of cancer also provide other information of interest to clinical practice: whether or not the patient responds to certain treatments. The article describes that the test was correct in the 100% of the predictions that a patient would not respond an antimethasic treatment. When he predicted that he would respond, the precision was from 87%. Therefore, they ensure that the test could also be used to perform precision medicine when choosing treatments.

A sample of 170 Patients has been enough to get here, but the researcher acknowledges that it is necessary to have many more data to complete the commercial development of the test. To do this, there are already two clinical studies in progress in the United Kingdom – found by the National Health System of that country – and a series of other essays underway in various countries such as the United States and China. Once developed, the platform will be foreseebly marketed through a company SPIN OFF In Cambridge called Proteotype Ltd., of which Bernardes He is co -founder, along with other authors.

Bernardes also highlights that the test is easy to use, since it only requires a small blood sample and the use of simple reagents found in any hospital.

This project has received financing from Proteotype LTD (United Kingdom), the foundation for Ciência EA Technology (Portugal) and the Social Sciences Data Lab (Portugal).