Scientists in Australia have developed the first blood test that can detect melanoma in its early stages with high degree of accuracy.
Melanoma Skin Cancer
Melanoma, an aggressive form of skin cancer, is marked by dangerous and abnormal growths on the skin often caused by exposure to damaging ultraviolet light from the sun or from indoor tanning.
The disease makes up about 1.6 percent of global cancer diagnoses in 2012 with estimates from the World Health Organization showing that 132,000 cases of melanoma skin cancer occur worldwide per year.
This health problem is particularly a concern in Australia, where there are 14,000 new melanoma diagnoses and nearly 2,000 deaths annually. The country has the second highest rate of this deadly skin cancer in the world, partly due to its proximity to the ozone hole over the Antarctic.
Early Detection Crucial To Survival
Early detection is associated with high survival rate, while late diagnosis, when melanoma has spread further into the skin, reduces survival to just 50 percent.
"Patients who have their melanoma detected in its early stage have a five year survival rate between 90 and 99 percent, whereas if it is not caught early and it spreads around the body, the five year survival rate drops to less than 50 percent," said study researcher Pauline Zaenker, from Edith Cowan University.
The experimental blood test holds promise in early detection, which can help save lives.
Early trials involving 209 participants showed that the blood test can detect early stage melanoma in 81.5 percent of the cases.
The test can also deliver more accurate diagnosis of early-stage melanoma, which can be difficult to detest with the human eye.
How The Blood Test Works To Detect Early-Stage Skin Cancer
Doctors currently check the patient's skin to see if there are any changes in moles or spots to make a diagnosis. They excise the skin areas of concern and then sent these for biopsy. This makes early detection tricky especially when the skin cancer is small.
The blood test, on the other hand, works by detecting 10 combinations of protein autoantibodies that the body produces in response to melanoma.
"Autoantibodies (AAbs) may provide a more advantageous blood based biomarker, as they reflect the initial humoral immune response against a tumour and their increased levels can be detectable months to years prior to clinical evidence of a primary tumour," the researchers wrote in their study, which was published in Oncotarget on July 17.
