Story at a glance
- Some cancers may be detected in blood samples by looking for DNA from cancer cells.
- One blood test for more than 50 cancers is available but not FDA approved.
- The National Cancer Institute is planning a large-scale clinical trial to test feasibility and standardize efforts.
President Biden is set to sign an order to boost biotechnology as part of promoting a “Cancer Moonshot.” The cancer-focused initiative was launched in 2016 and restarted earlier this year. On the horizon, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) is planning a large-scale clinical trial for cancer detection tests that can detect multiple types of cancer from blood samples. If any of these types of screening tests gets approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), cancer diagnosis may become much more accessible for millions of people.
Cancer screening through blood testing is less invasive than getting a tissue sample or biopsy and could potentially find early-stage cancers. They work by looking for DNA or other remnants of cancerous cells. Several companies are working on blood tests that can detect multiple types of cancer, called multi-cancer early detection tests (MCEDs).
There is one MCED currently available in the U.S. called Galleri, which can be used to detect more than 50 types of cancer. It is not currently FDA approved, so it’s not covered by insurance. It isn’t meant to be a stand-alone diagnostic but a supplement to existing cancer screenings like mammograms, low-dose CT scans or colonoscopies.
In a recent study, the Galleri test flagged potential cancer in 92 people out of more than 6,500 participants. Further tests confirmed solid tumors or blood cancer in 35 of those people.
Out-of-pocket, the Galleri test costs $949. However, it might be worth it for some patients who don’t have many other options.
“This test is very good at picking up cancers where we don’t currently have good screening options, such as ovarian or pancreatic cancer,” said Jaime Grund, director of St. Elizabeth Precision Medicine and Breast Centers, in a press release. “Those cancers are difficult to detect at early stages. This new test allows us to screen for those diseases in a way that we haven’t been able to before.”
The upcoming clinical trial spearheaded by the NCI could help bring these tests to a wider number of patients. The agency is planning to enroll 24,000 healthy people ages 45 to 70 in 2024, a total of 225,000 people overall.
One of the challenges is that there are many tests in this category. Another challenge is that there are still questions on how to interpret the results of the test. It’ll also set a precedent for comparing tests and standardization for screening studies.
The NCI MCED clinical trial is slated to start recruiting in 2024, so still quite a while from now. But if a blood test like this could be widely available, it could be a gamechanger for health care and could potentially reduce the impact of cancer.
“It seems very realistic to me to think that we could reduce death by half,” said Timothy Rebbeck, a professor of cancer prevention at Harvard, to MIT Technology Review.
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