During two studies by the Armenian Oxford Population Health Company, proteins were found in the blood that can warn of cancer in the human body more than seven years before diagnosis.
The scientists identified 618 proteins in the blood at least seven years before diagnosis, including 197 proteins associated with 19 different types of cancer in a specific group of people. The research team found that these proteins can be involved in the earliest stages of cancer, when it can be prevented.
According to the researchers, some of these proteins could be used to detect cancer much earlier than currently possible. In the future, this discovery may help treat the disease at a much earlier stage or even prevent it completely.
It allows scientists to ananlyze a large number of proteins in tissue samples at a single point in time, enabling them to observe interactions and identifying significant differences between proteins in various tissue samples.
During the first study, scientists analyzed blood samples from over 44,000 people in the UK Biobank, of whom more than 4,900 were later diagnosed with cancer. The research team employed a technique called proteomics to analyze a set of 1,463 proteins from a single blood sample from each person.
The scientists compared the proteins of people who had been diagnosed with cancer to those who had not, aiming to identify significant differences related to cancer risk. Scientists identified 182 proteins that were present in the blood three years before a cancer diagnosis.
In the second study, researchers analyzed the genetic data of over 300,000 cancer cases to better understand which blood proteins are involved in cancer development, and how they can be used in new treatment methods.
Scientists identified 40 proteins in the blood that influence the development of nine different types of cancer. While altering these proteins can increase or decrease a person’s risk of developing cancer, the researchers also found that such changes can sometimes lead to unpredictable side effects.
