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title: ""For years scientists have sought to create the ultimate…"
date: 2020-07-29
source: facebook
type: Archer T. Ships shared a link.
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# "For years scientists have sought to create the ultimate…

*July 29, 2020 · Facebook*

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[https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/experimental-blood-test-detects-cancer-up-to-four-years-before-symptoms-appear/](https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/experimental-blood-test-detects-cancer-up-to-four-years-before-symptoms-appear/){target="_blank"}
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\"For years scientists have sought to create the ultimate cancer-screening test---one that can reliably detect a malignancy early, before tumor cells spread and when treatments are more effective. A new method reported today in Nature Communications brings researchers a step closer to that goal. By using a blood test, the international team was able to diagnose cancer long before symptoms appeared in nearly all the people it tested who went on to develop cancer.\
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"What we showed is: up to four years before these people walk into the hospital, there are already signatures in their blood that show they have cancer," says Kun Zhang, a bioengineer at the University of California, San Diego, and a co-author of the study. "That's never been done before."
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