Blood Test to Diagnose Breast Cancer

Breast cancer may be diagnosed using antioxidant, and inflammation levels as per a study at the University of Lahore in Pakistan, to be presented in Philadelphia at the American Physiological Society's (APS) annual meeting at Experimental Biology 2022.

The study analyzed the levels of antioxidants and stress markers in the blood to develop a new diagnostic tool for breast cancer.

‘High levels of inflammatory markers and low antioxidant levels as measured by blood tests are found to serve as a potential diagnostic tool for breast cancer patients.’

Nearly 8 million women are estimated to be living with breast cancer (diagnosed in the past five years) as per the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2020. Breast cancer is the most prevalent cancer in the world.

"The breast cancer pathophysiology included an overbalance of oxidants or stress markers and an underbalance of antioxidants," says Samina Malik, MBBS, MPhil, first author of the study.

This proportion of pro-and anti-inflammatory components may play "a crucial role in the metastasis of breast cancer" and may be useful as a diagnostic marker for the disease, say the researchers.

Source: Medindia