Experimental blood test spots recurrent breast cancers and monitors response to treatment

Investigators at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center have designed a blood test, the cMethDNA assay that "accurately detected the presence of cancer DNA in the blood of patients with metastatic cancers up to 95% of the time in laboratory studies." According to Dr. Saraswati Sukumar, no useful laboratory test presently exists to monitor patients with early stage breast cancer who appear to be well, but may have an asymptomatic recurrence. By accurately detecting the presence of advanced breast cancer, cMethDNA may aid in monitoring response to cancer treatment more precisely. To read more about this study, appearing in the May 2014 issue of Artemis, the Johns Hopkins monthly breast cancer newsletter, click here.