Cancer can be detected with a test similar to that of pregnancy

Early detection of cancer is crucial to save the lives of patients. However, the disease diagnostic tests are not accessible to thousands of people due to high costs. To combat the rise of the disease in developed countries, the engineers from MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) are developing a cancer diagnostic test that uses urine and indicates the result within minutes.

The test, which is similar to conventional pregnancy tests, uses synthetic biomarkers that dispenses with the use of specialized equipment and expensive. Before carrying out the test, the patient receives an injection of nanoparticles that join tumor proteins, producing biomarkers that indicate the presence of cancer in the human body.

Although the new cancer detection technology has not yet been approved for human use, the results conducted in the laboratory were positive, referring the Inhabitat. The team of researchers from MIT, who is now working for that technology could be commercialized, expects the diagnostic test is soon on the market and that could prevent thousands of deaths per year due to late diagnosis of the disease.

Foto: Esparta/Creative Commons

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