Womb cancer blood test research ‘could save lives’
- Researchers say they hope to develop a blood test to improve diagnosis of a rare hard-to-detect cancer.
- Uterine sarcomas make up just three out of 100 cancers of the womb, but the symptoms are similar to more common, and non-cancerous, fibroid growths.
- In addition, womb cancers, external are commonly diagnosed by biopsies which only pick up one in three uterine sarcomas.
Streamlining whole genome sequencing for clinical diagnostics with ONT technology
- Recent advances in whole-genome sequencing (WGS) have increased the accessibility of this tool, offering substantial potential for pathogen surveillance, outbreak response, and diagnostics.
- However, the routine clinical adoption of WGS is hindered by factors such as high costs, technical complexity, and the requirement for bioinformatics expertise for data analysis.
- To address these challenges, we propose RapidONT, a workflow designed for cost-effective and accessible WGS-based pathogen analysis. RapidONT employs a mechanical shearing–based DNA extraction protocol, followed by library construction by using a multiplexing Oxford nanopore technologies (ONT) rapid barcoding kit. Flye software is used for de novo assembly without manual intervention, followed by basic assembly polishing using Medaka and Homopolish.
Sunak becomes prostate cancer charity ambassador
- Former prime minister Rishi Sunak has said he is “honoured” to become a prostate cancer charity ambassador.
- He will support Prostate Cancer Research’s campaign to introduce a national screening programme for men at high risk of the disease.
- He met workers developing a new blood test at the laboratories of British cancer diagnostics company Oxford BioDynamics last week.
Record number of norovirus patients in hospital
- Hospitals in England have been hit by a storm of norovirus infections as the number of beds taken up by patients with the virus reached a record high last week.
- An average 1,160 patients a day were in hospital with norovirus last week -a 22% surge on the previous week (948) and more than double the same period last year (509).
- The latest data shows flu cases in hospital have continued to fall but are still putting pressure on front-line services, with an average 1,755 patients with flu in beds last week, including 87 in critical care, down 14% on the week before (2,039).
Early lung cancer diagnosis improved with ctDNA methylation biomarkers
- Early diagnosis of lung cancer is a critical priority in clinical practice. It may help reduce the rate of lung-cancer-related mortality, extend disease-free survival, and allow patients to live without ongoing medical interventions and complications.
- Although various diagnostic methods differentiate lung cancer malignancy from benign disease, their low accuracy makes them unfavourable.
- DNA methylation, a key epigenetic alteration, has been implicated in the tumorigenesis of various cancers; however, its diagnostic value through circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA) remains unrealised in lung cancer.
