Researchers at UF and at a British university are trying to create a way to use blood tests to screen for breast cancer rather than using traditional mammograms.
While the researchers are working independently, their goals are similar. The studies focus on comparing DNA markers in blood samples to detect early signs of breast cancer.
Dr. Coy Heldermon, a UF medical oncologist, said a blood test could be a much better option than the current screening methods because it would give a clearer, less invasive reading.
“I think that mammography is the best we’ve got, but it’s not good enough,” Heldermon said. “If a blood test could be developed that is both sensitive and specific, it could greatly improve our ability to screen.”
The study will be done by comparing proteins in blood samples from people who have cancer and people who do not.
“This is a method that is being pursued in a number of cancers,” he said.
Researchers at the University of Leicester are also working on creating a blood test to screen for breast cancer and are about to start clinical trials, Dr. Jacqui Shaw, study principal investigator at the University of Leicester, wrote in an email.
The Cancer Research UK charity is funding the five-year study in England.
She said she has received several comments from women who were excited about the possible option and said they’d prefer the blood test to a mammogram.
She said the study will be done by using blood samples from 500 women to compare DNA markers.
UF finance sophomore Amanda Ladner said she wishes this type of screening method had existed when her grandmother was diagnosed with breast cancer. Her grandmother recovered but the process was rough, she said.
“My grandma was 45 when she found out, but if she would have known sooner, maybe the result didn’t have to be so drastic,” the 19-year-old said.
Ladner said she hopes researchers can target the disease at any earlier stage.
“I think it would be amazing and so helpful for a lot of women,” she said.
