Nano-Biotechnology

Breakthrough: New Method Assesses the Risk of Breast Cancer in a Matter of Hours

Instead of weeks

By Stefan Anitei, Science Editor

22nd of September 2007, 08:29 GMT

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It strongly affects a woman's feminity, while attempting on her life. And the earlier the diagnosis, the better the chances of survival.

But a new "breakthrough" method in the detection of breast cancer developed by a team at the Institute of Human Genetics at Newcastle University could significantly cut the cost and time required to check for the presence

of BRCA1 gene, which increases by 80 % the vulnerability to breast cancer.

The novel technology employs a Roche "genome sequencer" for checking mutations in the human DNA and could be available on the NHS in 2008.

"Technologically this is a breakthrough that is keeping us at the forefront of diagnostic testing. It takes us up to a whole new level, comparable to moving from horse drawn carts to cars. Current tests can take weeks, cost up to �1,000 ($ 2,020), and are only available to women with a strong family history of the disease. But the new technology will dramatically reduce the price and significantly increase the pace of the tests," said Professor John Burn, head of the Institute.

The Swiss-made machine can deliver results in just a few hours.

"Spell-checking genes is a challenge. The current technology is good but it's not as good as we want. It's not cheap and fast enough." added Burn.

Researchers at the institute are validating the technique and thus its use will turn common in the next years.

"The new method is expected to make testing much more accessible to women at risk of inheriting breast cancer, now the most common disease in the country. Currently we restrict the test to families who have the highest risk of breast cancer. Now we hope we will be able to offer it to many more people." said Burn.

The technology could also assess the risks for other diseases.

"There's conceptually no reason why it wouldn't work for any DNA tests. We might be able to do multiple tests simultaneously," he added.

TAGS:

breast | cancer | DNA

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