Blood screening may help find immune system pointers to predict cancer growth

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2022-03-01 06:00

Australia; VIC; ACT

Screening patients' blood samples for immune system markers may be one way that doctors could predict cancer size or if it is likely to grow, according to Australian research. The team looked at animal models for breast cancer and colorectal cancer to see if there were clear immune system markers in the blood that could predict cancer severity and progression. They found that some immune cell types in the blood gave a strong indication of tumour size, while other markers pointed to growth and tumour development. The authors say blood appears to be an accessible way to look for tumour related changes in the immune system which could help personalise cancer treatment.

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conference: PLOS ONE

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: The Australian National University, The Alfred, Canberra Hospital

Funder: This work was partially supported by the Radiation Oncology Private Practice Trust Fund, Canberra Health Services, Canberra, Australia. The funder provided support in the form of salaries and/or research materials for authors B.J.C.Q, D.A. S.D., S.M., J.S., F.M.S., I.I.A. but did not have any additional role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

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