Researchers improve blood tests’ ability to detect and monitor cancer

Tumors constantly shed DNA from dying cells, which briefly circulates in the patient's bloodstream before it is quickly broken down. But the amount of tumor DNA circulating at any given time is extremely small, so it has been challenging to develop tests sensitive enough to pick up that tiny signal. A team of researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard has now come up with a way to significantly boost that signal, by temporarily slowing the clearance of tumor DNA circulating in the bloodstream. The researchers developed a monoclonal antibody and a nanoparticle that can transiently interfere with the body's ability to remove circulating tumor DNA from the bloodstream.