New 'universal' blood test developed to diagnose cancer

A new research has developed a simple blood test that can be used universally to diagnose cancer.

The test developed by the researchers from the University of Bradford, will enables doctors to rule out cancer in patients presenting certain symptoms, and help save time and prevent costly and unnecessary invasive procedures such as colonoscopies and biopsies from being carried out.

Also, it could be a useful aid for investigating patients who are suspected of having cancer that is currently hard to diagnose.

Lead researcher Diana Anderson, revealed that they found that people with cancer had DNA which was more easily damaged by ultraviolet light than other people, so the test is aimed at identifying the sensitivity to damage of the entire DNA, the genome, in a cell.

However, Anderson added that though the early results, completed on three different types of cancer, so far were remarkable, more research was needed to be done.

The research is published online in FASEB Journal, the US journal of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology.