Cancer Diagnostics : Battle against Cancer Mortality

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Cancer Diagnostics remains Key Weapon in Battle
against Cancer Mortality 
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• Cancer continues to be one of the most lethal
  diseases among humans, despite years of
  considerable progress made in its diagnosis and
  treatment. According to the World Health
  Organization, cancer is the second most frequent
  cause of death in the world, with 8.8 million
  people dying from this disease in 2015 alone.
• Two of the most significant problems in the
  treatment of cancer are late-stage presentation
  and inaccessible diagnosis. Cancer is often
  detected in its later stages. By then, the
  functioning of crucial organs has been
  compromised and is on its way to spreading
  throughout the body. As a result, methods for
  early detection of cancer play a vital role in
  identifying the most appropriate and effective
  treatment option. Cancer diagnostics is,
  therefore, an active area of current research.

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• For the longest time, cancer diagnosis relied
  primarily on invasive tissue biopsy since
  noninvasive diagnostic tests were generally known
  to be insufficient in identifying and defining a
  disease process of cancer. However, noninvasive
  alternatives are constantly being developed to
  accurately detect traces of cancer in the blood.
  Apart from detection of a tumor through common
  noninvasive imaging techniques such as
  ultrasound, MRI, PET scans, CT scans, and x-rays,
  development of noninvasive methods to further
  study tumor DNA is underway.

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Liquid Biopsy Paving the Way for Noninvasive
Diagnostics

• Liquid biopsy is a simple and noninvasive method
  under development as an alternative to a surgical
  biopsy. This allows doctors to collect a wide
  scope of data about a tumor through a mere blood
  sample. Studying traces of the cancers DNA in
  the blood sheds light on the kind of treatment
  most likely to work for the patient in question.
  Even though a major part of the early research on
  liquid biopsy has been restricted to prostate,
  breast, and lung cancers, this technology is
  anticipated to significantly impact all types of
  cancer.
•  

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• Being noninvasive in nature, patients find liquid
  biopsies much easier to tolerate. Moreover, the
  procedure is quicker than the surgical
  alternative. Liquid biopsies also have the
  potential to detect the progression of a disease
  or its treatment resistance even before it
  appears on imaging scans or before any clinical
  symptoms are triggered.

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• A recent example would be the liquid biopsy test
  developed by Imperial College London and the
  University of Leicester. This test monitors the
  progression of breast cancer and can also
  identify patients that need a change in
  treatment. While the test is still under
  validation and far from commercialization, there
  are others that are already available in the
  market. A case in point is Biocept, Inc., who
  launched its new liquid biopsy test in July 2017.
  This test also helps detect and monitor a key
  biomarker in the bloodstream of patients with
  breast cancer.

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• These developments only go to show that liquid
  biopsy is set to be a game-changer in cancer
  care. Although this method will not be replacing
  tissue biopsy anytime soon, it will, however,
  complement tissue biopsy and enable more and more
  patients to get tested.

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Next-generation Sequencing to Help Personalize
Patient Care
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• NGS technology has made incredible progress in
  the last couple of decades in terms of sequencing
  chemistry, reliability, pipeline analyses, costs,
  and data interpretation. Some of the most recent
  technological developments have been in the field
  of oncology. Initially, traditional sequencing
  was done only for specific samples or DNA regions
  owing to the need for intensive work and capital.
  The Human Genome Project, for instance, took 13
  years and billions of euros to sequence an entire
  human genome. NGS technology, however, offers the
  promise of a complete genome sequenced for less
  than US1,000 per genome and done in just a few
  days. And even though we are yet to achieve this
  goal, the technology is sure to have an
  unprecedented impact on personalizing patient
  care for diseases such has cancer.

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• At the start of 2017, Illumina, Inc. introduced
  the NovaSeqTM Series at the J.P. Morgan
  Healthcare Conference. This new and scalable
  sequencing architecture is expected to enable a
  100 genome one day. The platform is known to
  offer unmatched flexibility in high throughput
  sequencing, low per sample costs, and ease of
  use. The global leader in next-generation
  sequencing technology hopes that this platform
  will drive breakthroughs in precision medicine.

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Improving Detection Sensitivity through
Nanobiosensors  
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• Nano-sized components are being incorporated into
  novel nanobiosensors and in current clinical
  diagnostic and detection systems. These have
  exhibited improved specificity and sensitivity
  compared to conventional approaches for cancer
  testing. Nanoparticles, nanotubes, nanowires, and
  nanocantilevers are some of the nanobiosensor
  systems being experimented with in the detection
  and diagnosis of breast, lung, prostate,
  pancreatic, and brain cancer in recent years.
• Nanobiosensors offer many advantages compared to
  traditional biosensor systems. These include
  increase in detection sensitivity, feasibility in
  engineering smaller sensors, reduction in lab
  space requirements, lower cost of fabrication,
  ability to be used in implantable monitors, and
  decreasing overall clinical healthcare testing
  costs in oncology.

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• It has been promising to note that technological
  advances in recent times have improved detection
  and diagnosis of cancer, thereby improving
  survival rate. The American Cancer Society has
  found that the death rate from cancer in the U.S.
  has been steadily declining over the past 2
  decades. This goes to show that earlier diagnosis
  of cancer could lead to improved outcome. As a
  result, more and more companies have joint the
  fight against cancer - investing heavily in the
  detection of a wide range of cancer diseases.

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• Thank you