For many cancer patients, detection of the condition comes after symptoms begin to present themselves. That can mean lumps under tissue or pain in a particular part of the body or, in the case of brain cancer, after behavior is already affected.
A company called Quanterix in Lexington, Massachusetts is working on technology to find cancer before the symptoms begin. They believe that they have found a way to identify a type of protein associated with cancer within a person’s blood. The technique allows them to see the protein even when only a very small amount is there- in other words, when cancer is first beginning to grow.
The technology is still new and in the research phase, but if it proves to be a viable technique for finding cancer, it could change the fight against cancer forever. Checking for cancer could become as simple as checking for high cholesterol.
