Queensland researchers develop ten minute cancer test

A simple, quick, portable and cheap test developed by Queensland researchers could be the “holy grail” of cancer diagnosis.

The research has enabled development of a new non-invasive approach to detect cancer in any tissue type including blood.

Queensland scientists have developed a test they hope could be “the holy grail” for diagnosing cancer.

The test has been developed by University of Queensland researchers who have discovered a unique DNA nanostructure that appears to be common to all cancers.

Researcher Professor Matt Trau says this has enabled an entirely new non-invasive approach to detect cancer in any tissue type including blood, and led to the creation of inexpensive and portable detection devices. These could eventually be used as a diagnostic tool, possibly with a mobile phone, he said.

“We certainly don’t know yet whether it’s the holy grail for all cancer diagnostics, but it looks really interesting,” Prof Trau said in a statement on Wednesday.

“(And could become) an incredibly simple universal marker of cancer … that doesn’t require complicated lab-based equipment.”

The new technology has proved to be up to 90 per cent accurate in tests involving 200 human cancer samples and normal DNA.

Researchers are now working to further develop the technology, and licence it with a commercial partner.

The study is published in the journal Nature Communications.

The research found a “universal fingerprint” in the DNA of common cancers that could one day enable a diagnosis to be made with a simple ten-minute blood test, The Times reports.

Researchers demonstrated that there is a tell-tale pattern of gene expression in cancer genomes which is not found in healthy genomes, allowing them to spot cancer DNA circulating in the blood.

In Nature Communications, the scientists said that they had identified this pattern in patients known to have lymphoma, breast cancer, colorectal cancer and prostate cancer, suggesting that the phenomenon was common across many cancers.

“Virtually every piece of cancerous DNA we examined had this highly predictable pattern,” Prof Trau said.

“It seems to be a general feature for all cancer. It’s a startling discovery.”

The reason the finding has created excitement is that tumours continually shed their DNA into the bloodstream. If this can be reliably spotted, it could become a means to diagnose cancer.

— AAP