New blood test can predict future breast cancer

According to the World Health Organization, breast cancer is the most common cancer in women both in the developed and less developed world, and in the long term the scientists hope that the new method will lead to better prevention and early treatment of the disease.

"The method is better than mammography, which can only be used when the disease has already occurred. It is not perfect, but it is truly amazing that we can predict breast cancer years into the future," said Rasmus Bro, a professor of chemometrics in the Department of Food Science at University of Copenhagen. He stressed the method has been tested and validated only for a single population (cohort) and needs to be validated more widely before it can be used practically.

A new way of detecting diseases

Nevertheless, the method could create a paradigm shift in early diagnosis of breast cancer as well as other diseases.

"The potential is that we can detect a disease like breast cancer much earlier than today. This is important as it is easier to treat if you discover it early. In the long term, it will probably also be possible to use similar models to predict other diseases," said Lars Ove Dragsted, a professor of biomedicine in the Department of Nutrition, Exercise and Sports.

The method has been developed in cooperation with the Danish Cancer Society and the study was recently published in Metabolomics.

Food science showed the way

The researchers' approach to developing the method was adopted from food science, where it is used for control of complex industrial processes. Basically, it involves handling and analysing huge amounts of biological data in a holistic and explorative way. The researchers analysed all compounds a blood sample contains instead of - as is often done in health and medical science - examining what a single biomarker means in relation to a specific disease.

Breast cancer treatment affects many areas of your life, both physically and emotionally. Whatever your normal daily life, you may need or want to take a break, cut back or change your responsibilities. The costs of treatment may impact your financial outlook.

Breast cancer forces its way into the most private parts of our lives, our relationships with our lovers, our parents, our friends, our colleagues and ourselves. You may find it changes the way you experience sexual intimacy and communicate with your partner. It could impact the way you feel about your body image and your femininity. You may look at your friends and family differently now.

These life changes start with your diagnosis, but they do not always end with your last treatment. People who have not had cancer may not understand this. Some people expect your life to go “back to normal” or return to the way it was before your diagnosis. That will be the case for some women. But for many others, breast cancer changes their outlook and perspective in many different ways.