Blood Test Can Predict Cancer More than a Decade in Advance

According to a new study, scientist may soon be able to predict cancer years before diagnosis.
Researchers found that the telomeres shorten rapidly and then stop aging and shortening for a few
years in the period leading up to a cancer diagnosis.

Telomeres are protective caps at the ends of chromosomes. As we age, telomere length shortens evenly.
However, numerous factors such as stress, genetics and poor lifestyle habits affect telomeres to begin
shorten rapidly. Many diseases, including cancer, have already been linked to telomere shortening.
However, scientists have for the first time discovered patterns in the changing length of telomeres that
could lead to cancer prediction through blood tests.

By the time we grow up telomeres are half the length they were when we were born, then they halve
again as we enter old age. Scientists now believe that changes in this pattern, in the form of accelerated
shortening followed by three to four years of stabilization can be alarming. The team of scientists who
came to this discovery believes this distinctive pattern could serve as a biomarker that predicts cancer
development with a blood test.

However, earlier studies have reached inconsistent conclusions: some scientists have come to the
conclusion that people developing cancer have shorter blood telomeres, others believe they are longer,
and some find no connections at all. As opposed to taking just a single snapshot, a new study investigated
how telomeres change over time.

The new discovery could be the most relevant because treatment for cancer can affect telomere length,
and this is the first time that researchers measured telomere length several times over a 13-year period in
792 people.

Study results are amazing. 135 of the participants eventually developed various cancers. Their telomeres
aged much faster –shortened more rapidly – in the first few years, and looked as much as 15 years older
than those of the participants who did not develop cancer.

Some other studies have arrived at similar findings. But it is surprising knowledge that the accelerated
aging stopped three to four years before cancer diagnosis. Scientists explain that the inconsistency of
previous findings may be because they did not spot the stabilizing period.

Every time a cell divides, telomeres shorten a bit which is why they get progressively shorter as we grow
older. When telomeres become too short, they can cause the cell to become faulty, and normally the cell
self-destructs. But, cancer cells divide more rapidly than normal cells. Scientists now raise the question
why don’t they self-destruct when their telomeres become dangerously short?

Researchers hope that by identifying how cancer hijacks cells, that treatment can be developed to self-
destruct cancer cells while keeping healthy cells unharmed.

Reference: Telomere changes predict cancer – Medcal press, Apr 10, 2015