Page 12 - FOCUS December 2017

CANCER CARE
Christiana Care researchers discover new blood test to diagnose breast cancer
Jennifer Sims-Mourtada, Ph.D., director of Translational Breast Cancer Research at the Center for Translational Research and GenPro co-founder Adam Marsh, Ph.D.
“This simple blood test, used in combination with mammography, can be a transformative tool in the fight against breast cancer by determining whether cancer is present in
the breast and whether the cancer is likely to spread.”
Jennifer Sims-Mourtada, Ph.D.
In a potential major breakthrough in breast cancer research, scientists at the Center for Translational Cancer
Research (CTCR) at the Helen F. Graham Cancer Center & Research Institute of Christiana Care Health System have developed a revolutionary new blood test to diagnose breast cancer.
Senior Scientist Jennifer Sims-Mourtada, Ph.D., director of Translational Breast Cancer Research, developed the test with scientists from Genome Profiling LLC (GenPro).
“This simple blood test, used in combination with mammography, can be a transformative tool in the fight against breast cancer by determining whether cancer is present
in the breast and whether the cancer is likely to spread,” Dr. Sims-Mourtada said.
“Using this test could minimize over- diagnosis and treatment while potentially providing significant savings in health- care-related costs. Studies have shown that mammograms alone are not optimal for diagnosing all types of breast cancer.”
The new test focuses on identifying an epigenetic biomarker within circulating blood cells’ DNA that are part of the body’s immune system. It is different from other diagnostic tests that target cancer tumors.
“This test is designed to monitor epigenetic DNA changes in the blood cells that could signal an early-stage aggressive tumor,”
Dr. Sims-Mourtada said. “We know that immune cells in the blood react differently if they are responding to an infection versus a cancer, an invasive tumor or when there is no cancer present at all. | CONTINUED
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