The time of diagnosis of cancer is very important in the course of treatment. The faster the detection, the better the healing results or minimizing damage to the body.
However, the diagnosis is not always simple, as in addition to some types of cancer giving little specific signs at the beginning of the disease, the investigation methods are still time consuming.
Based on this, new research published in the scientific journal Natures Communications revealed a new, more accurate procedure when it comes to detecting cancer subtypes. All of this through the patient’s own DNA.
Through the genetic material it is possible to detect the so-called “fusion genes”, which are quite common genetic unions in cancer patients.
According to the researchers, this fusion occurs in 1 in 5 cancers, which can serve as an indicator of the presence of the disease.
Conventional treatments
In fact, detection by the fusion method is not exactly a novelty. There were already clinical diagnostic options available on the market, called the fish method, which is capable of searching for these genes.
However, they are more limited tests, which work looking for specific types for the gene of each type of cancer.
The new study tries to minimize these barriers and cover searches.
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New method created
The researchers developed by the new method, a kind of extensive panels, which are used to detect the movement of genes, a process carried out by cells to protect proteins during an early stage of cancer.
By eliminating specific information that limited the test (how to detect the cancer site), the new test looks for common fusion genes, which are present in all cancer subtypes.
The discovery is considered important because it is more accurate when it comes to detecting these fusion genes, giving an effective and safe result.
Still according to the researchers, the next step is two other studies that can be done directly on patients.
In Brazil, in 2018, there were 582,590 thousand new cases of cancer, both in men and women.
Therefore, advances in this area of medicine are essential to better the ability to detect diseases.
