Researchers Are Working On A Blood Test To Help Find Brain Cancer

For some of the most common types of adult brain cancer, patients are only expected to live  14 months after being diagnosed.

Historically researchers have struggled to find better ways to diagnose brain cancer early because they don’t know what other signs to look for that suggest a cancer is growing. 

But that may be shifting thanks to new research published earlier this month from a team at Ohio State University. They have identified a specific change in the body’s immune system  that may be a predictor of the most common cancerous brain tumors  gliomas   five years before an individual develops symptoms.

“It was previously thought that glioblastoma (the most common type of adult glioma) appears more or less suddenly, without a precursor state,” said Judith Schwartzbaum, associate professor of epidemiology and lead researcher. Instead, there may be activity in the immune system that could signal a person is at a higher risk of developing brain cancer, she said.

The new data is significant because it’s one of the first known studies to look specifically at what’s happening to the immune system before a patient develops a glioma, Schwartzbaum explained. “Clinicians don’t see this period because patients don’t [typically get diagnosed] until they have symptoms.“

This type of blood test, along with other indicators (such as those from imaging or genetic tests), could help inform doctors which patients are at higher risk of developing cancerous brain tumors than others. This line of research could lead scientists to design treatments to block further tumor growth, Schwartzbaum added.

A big limitation of this new research is that it’s still not clear if this type of immune system activity is specific to gliomas, Schwartzbaum said. The immune system might, for example, show the same type of activity as a precursor to other cancers or diseases, too, she explained. And that means that the type of blood test the researchers used for this study is not likely to be specific enough to be used alone to diagnose brain cancer. But in the future it might help let your doctor know that you’re more likely to develop brain cancer than someone else and should be screened more often.