Ask how breast cancer gets caught early, and the answer usually starts with a mammogram. Researchers at USC want to know whether a blood sample could hand doctors another clue, possibly as early as stage I.
On Oct. 15, Keck Medicine of USC announced that researchers at its USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center had launched a phase 1 clinical trial of a liquid biopsy, a blood-based test.
The question is whether this test, used alongside regular mammograms, can help find breast cancer sooner than mammograms do on their own.
What makes the project worth watching is the kind of evidence it’s designed to find. It skips the clue most cancer blood tests look for and instead looks for something else floating in the bloodstream.
For now, there’s an important caveat. The trial itself is brand-new, and it hasn’t produced any results yet.
This Blood Test Goes Looking For Different Clues
The difference comes down to what the test is fishing for in a blood sample.
Liquid biopsies already play a role in cancer care, usually after a diagnosis, when doctors use them to monitor treatment or check whether cancer has returned.
As USC explains, most look for small pieces of DNA released by cancer cells, and those fragments can be hard to detect when cancer is small or early-stage.
The new test, developed by Peter Kuhn, PhD, at the USC Michelson Center Convergent Science Institute in Cancer, takes a different approach.
It looks for rare cancer-associated cells and for tumor-associated large extracellular vesicles, or L-EVs. These tiny particles are released by cancer cells and can enter the bloodstream early in the disease.
USC says early data show these signals can be detected at the very earliest stages of breast cancer, though it didn’t share figures to back that up. Its research also suggests the signals may reflect how cancer cells and their surroundings communicate and change as the disease develops.
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Two Blood Draws, One Year Apart
The plan itself is easier to follow than the biology behind it.
Researchers will collect two blood samples from each participant, one year apart, then compare the test results with each patient’s diagnosis to assess accuracy. USC stresses that the test is still under study and doesn’t replace mammograms or breast biopsies.
Anastasia Martynova, MD, a breast cancer specialist and medical oncologist with USC Norris, is the trial’s principal investigator. “Our hope is to determine whether this test can provide more information about breast cancer screening and detection, particularly during the stages of the disease when it may be easier to treat,” she said in a statement.
She’s working with co-investigator Amanda M. Woodworth, MD, director of breast health at Keck Medicine and Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital in Santa Clarita. The National Cancer Institute and the Breast Cancer Research Foundation are funding the research.
The Gaps A Blood Test Might Fill
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Researchers point to two spots where screening can leave women waiting or left out.
By Keck’s count, more than 300,000 women in the U.S. are diagnosed with breast cancer each year. When a mammogram turns up something abnormal, the next step may be more imaging or a biopsy before doctors know whether cancer is there.
Sometimes doctors recommend repeating the imaging in six months. USC says that wait can cause significant anxiety and, if cancer is ultimately diagnosed, delay treatment.
Researchers hope a blood test might eventually add useful information during that uncertain stretch. They also noted another possible use: it could have potential applications for women who have had a mastectomy and can no longer get mammograms.
For Now, This Test Lives Inside A Clinical Trial
Much still needs to happen before a blood draw like this becomes part of an ordinary checkup.
Several basics remain unclear, including how many people are enrolled, who’s eligible and when results are expected. Price, insurance coverage, turnaround time, and whether the test will ever be offered for routine screening are also open questions, and no company or brand name is attached to it.
The researchers are already thinking beyond breast cancer. They say the same technology could eventually be explored for other solid tumors, including lung and colon cancers, although no trials for those have been announced.
The nearer milestone is phase 2. If results from this first trial are positive, the team plans a larger study with more patients, though no start date has been given.
If a blood test like this proves accurate, would you want it added to your regular breast cancer screening, or would you stick with mammograms alone?
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