Telomere (Photo : YouTube/Kent Zilliox )
A simple blood test may now be used to predict the occurrence of one of the deadliest diseases, cancer. Scientists at Harvard University in collaboration with Northwestern Medicine used unique patterns to alter the lengths of telomeres, which can be used as a bio mark to predict cancer.
This test based on telomeres will be able to detect cancer many years before it actually occurs in a person. Telomeres are nothing but the protective end caps of the human DNA strands. This groundbreaking study was conducted at Harvard University in collaboration with Northwestern Medicine.
This is the first study which successfully tracks the changes of the telomeres and reached a conclusion about their usage. Many attempts to carry out the same study were made in the past, but they had never reached the required results.
The "Ebio Medicine" journal was used to document the entire study, according to The Fresno News. The lead author of the study, Dr. Lifang Hou said in an interview that this study was able to set the benchmark for bio marks to predict the occurrence of cancer. He also said that the team of scientists were able to identify a very strong connection between different varieties of cancer, using the technique of bio marks.
This study was carried out on 792 individuals over a period of 13 years, according to The Hoops News. Out of these 792 people, 135 eventually got afflicted with cancer. Skin cancer, prostate cancer, lung cancer and leukemia were some of the cancer types which were found in these participants.
In addition to this, the telomeres in the 135 diagnosed people were around 15 years old. This further proved the usefulness of bio marks in detecting this disease.
