Research

Research: A simple blood test capable of detecting breast cancer in woman

Breast cancer is a very dangerous form of cancer for woman, affecting a large number of them over the globe. There are multiple projects going to do early detection, along with finding out the risk factors that increase the chances of the breast cancer happening in some woman much more than others. For example, as woman reach middle age and become older, recommendations include checking for breast cancer on a regular basis. There is an effort to try and detect breast cancers when they are much smaller, so that the chance of a successful treatment that will happen much quicker and be less prolonged gets increased. Right now, existing tests are through checking for lumps (can be through a self-examination) or through a mammogram. Well, research is indicating that a simpler blood test that checks for certain chemicals in the blood may also be a much faster alternative (link to article):

Normal breast screening checks, using Xray mammograms, detect a tumour only once it is three or four times bigger, by which time it may have started to spread beyond breast. But, this test can pick up a cancer the size of a small seed before a woman has developed any symptoms. Developed by the scientists, led by Norwegian company Diagenic ASA, the test looks for raised levels of chemical “markers” for cancer picked up as blood flows through tumour, the ‘Sunday Express’ reported.
Dr James Mackay, an oncologist and researcher at University College London, is helping to launch the blood test for private patients. “This test will be particularly useful for younger women who are at risk of developing breast cancer. “They tend to have denser breasts which mammograms cannot easily penetrate. We are suggesting they have a mammogram and combine it with this test so that there is a greater chance of detection,” he said.

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Diabetes research: Researchers Find Gene That Causes Resistance To Insulin

One of the major areas of focus for Diabetes research is to identify the precise reasons (including genetic reasons) for the multiple factors that go towards making a person afflited with Type 2 diabetes. These could be geared towards identifying why the body stops making insulin (or makes it in reduced quantities), or to identify as to why the body develops insulin resistance, which means the body is unable to pick up glucose from the blood stream. This particular research is geared towards identifying the genetic reasons that make the body stop responding to insulin present in the bloodstream. The gene reduces the effect of insulin already present in the muscles, liver and fat of the affected person (link to article):

Unlike most of the genes that have been shown to cause diabetes, the new gene, called Insulin Receptor Substrate 1 (IRS1), doesn’t affect how insulin is created in the pancreas, but rather, how the body responds to insulin already in the bloodstream. IRS1 has to do with the function of the other tissues in the body. Rather than reduce production of insulin, this gene reduces the effect of insulin in muscles, liver and fat, a process called insulin resistance.
Sladek hopes this discovery may lead to new therapeutic lines of attack in the future. “It’s possible that in diabetic patients, the signal to turn this gene on and off might be impaired. But we might be able to use one of the other pathways to turn it on,” he said.

All this research is geared towards ensuring that medical science develops a much deeper understanding of why the body goes towards insulin resistance, and whether there is a genetic reason that can be repaired.

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