A new study has found a promising way to detect and track cancer using only a blood test. This breakthrough could one day make it easier for doctors to find cancer early or check if it’s coming back after treatment—without needing surgery or scans.
The research was led by scientists from Weill Cornell Medicine and the New York Genome Center and was published in the journal Nature Methods on April 11.
The team created a better way to read a person’s entire DNA using something called whole-genome sequencing. This method can detect very tiny amounts of cancer DNA floating in the blood—sometimes as little as one part per million.
This cancer DNA, known as circulating tumor DNA or ctDNA, is released by cancer cells into the bloodstream. By measuring it, doctors can get an idea of how much cancer is in the body and whether treatment is working.
In the past, this kind of deep DNA reading was too expensive to use regularly. But the team tested a new, lower-cost sequencing system from a company called Ultima Genomics. This tool lets scientists read DNA more deeply without costing as much money.
The deeper scientists can look at the DNA, the more likely they are to spot even tiny traces of cancer.
What really made this method better was an extra step to check for errors. DNA has two strands that are mirror images of each other. By comparing these two strands, the scientists were able to remove mistakes in the reading process. This made the test much more accurate and trustworthy.
In their study, the team was able to find cancer in patients with bladder cancer and melanoma using only blood samples. They saw that ctDNA levels went up when the cancer got worse and went down when treatment worked. This shows that the test could be used not just to find cancer, but to monitor it over time.
Dr. Dan Landau, one of the lead researchers and an oncologist at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center, said this is a big step forward. He believes that with lower costs and better tools, blood tests to track cancer could soon become a normal part of medical care.
Dr. Bishoy Faltas, another author of the study, added that using the unique DNA patterns of each cancer made the test even more sensitive.
More research and clinical testing are still needed, but this study gives hope for a future where a simple blood test can help detect cancer early, monitor how it changes, and guide treatment—all without needing invasive procedures.
If you care about cancer, please read studies that artificial sweeteners are linked to higher cancer risk, and how drinking milk affects risks of heart disease and cancer.
For more health information, please see recent studies about the best time to take vitamins to prevent heart disease, and results showing vitamin D supplements strongly reduces cancer death.
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