QUEENSLAND, Australia — Scientists in Australia have developed a universal blood test for cancer that can detect the disease in 10 minutes.
The test could revolutionize the way doctors test for cancer, according to researchers at the University of Queensland. They discovered that in fluid, cancer develops an unusual DNA structure, CNN reported. The test determines the presence of cancer by identifying that structure and could detect the presence of cancer much earlier than current diagnostic methods, scientists said.
"Discovering that cancerous DNA molecules formed entirely different 3D nanostructures from normal circulating DNA was a breakthrough that has enabled an entirely new approach to detect cancer non-invasively in any tissue type including blood," professor Matt Trau said in a statement to CNN.
"This led to the creation of inexpensive and portable detection devices that could eventually be used as a diagnostic tool, possibly with a mobile phone," Trau said.
The test uses a fluid that changes color to reveal within 10 minutes whether a person has malignant cancer cells in his or her body, The Guardian reported.
“A major advantage of this technique is that it is very cheap and extremely simple to do, so it could be adopted in the clinic quite easily,” University of Queensland researcher Laura Carrascosa told the newspaper.
The research was published in the journal Nature Communications.
TRENDING NOW:
- Police arrest 32 as part of Mon Valley drug sweep
- National Geographic finally catches on to how cool Pittsburgh is
- City councilman: Upcoming gun expo not welcome in Pittsburgh
- VIDEO: 42 bikes, helmets donated by the Baldwin-Whitehall School District
- DOWNLOAD the Channel 11 News app for breaking news alerts