US home test blood kit to check early signs of disease
An American home testing kit that can find early signs of disease anywhere in the body through using a simple blood test could be available within 10 years.
The test allows people to screen themselves for life-threatening diseases including dementia and a range of cancers before they develop any symptoms with a quick diagnosis, in many cases, significantly improving a patient’s chances of recovering from any illness that does develop.
Dr Leroy Hood, of the Seattle Institute for Systems Biology, said that “in 10 years time we envisage having a simple test you could do two to three times a year in which you use a prick of blood to check the health of each organ in the body”.
The technique is based on the fact that every body organ constantly releases hundreds of different proteins into the bloodstream with about 50 of those unique to each organ. They make up what is described as a protein fingerprint for the organ and when disease strikes the brain, liver, or another organ it alters the protein fingerprint.
Dr Hood’s Seattle team is also working on other diseases including prostate cancer, ovarian cancer, and different types of brain tumour. The team hopes to develop a single test that will be able to spot early signs of disease in 50 organs and tissues.
