NEW CANCER TEST HOPE

A NEW blood test may make diagnosing cancer as simple as a pregnancy test, providing the chance to detect dangerous diseases much sooner and while they can be easily treated.

The revolutionary blood test being developed by Australian scientists has been touted as the Holy Grail of cancer for its ability to detect disease long before it appears on imaging scans.

Having been successful in animal trials, researchers are now pushing to progress the test so it can be adapted to screen for almost any type of cancer within half an hour of a simple finger prick.

By developing gold plated nanoparticles that can seek out and attach themselves to cancer biomarkers, the researchers are able to make the diseased genetic material magnetised so it can be extracted from the blood.

Prof Justin Gooding from Australia’s Centre of Excellence in Convergent Bio-Nano science and Technology in Sydney believes the test could become a regular and cost-effective cancer screening test over the next five to 10 years.

“The big thing here is that we can detect much lower concentrations than most technologies,” Prof Gooding said.

“This method takes about half an hour and, if we go through the journey to commercialisation, then it could be like a finger prick test. So it is pretty promising.”

The Federal Government’s Australian Research Council established the Centre of Excellence in Convergent BioNano science and Technology in 2014 to drive the development of future vaccines, drugs, gene therapies and treatments through collaborations with other leading medical institutes and universities.

The Sydney team hope to refine the technique before testing it in human clinical samples.