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Australian Scientists Unveil World-First Blood Test to Detect Melanoma

Researchers in Australia have developed the world’s first blood test on Wednesday which is capable of detecting melanoma in its early stages with significant accuracy.
According to the Australian Edith Cowan University Melanoma Research Group who developed the test, It could help save thousands of lives and can spot the skin cancer before it becomes fatal.
“Patients who have their melanoma detected in its early stage have a five-year survival rate between 90 and 99 per cent”, said lead researcher Pauline Zaenker in a statement.
Early trials of the test involving 209 people showed it was capable of picking up early stage melanoma in 81.5% of cases.
“In order for it to be valued by clinicians we would need to get to 90% accuracy in detection,” the lead researcher said. “So we are doing a clinical trial with 1000 participants to refine our test to get to this point”.
Melanoma is the fourth most common cancer in Australia and claims the lives of about 1,500 people each year. Doctors currently rely on checking a patient’s skin to see any changes in existing moles or spots before making a diagnosis.
Australia has the second highest level of melanoma in the world after New Zealand, with 14,000 new diagnoses and almost 2,000 deaths every year.
The blood test can help deliver a more accurate diagnosis of early-stage melanoma, which can be tricky to detect with the human eye, particularly if small.
The blood test, called MelDX, works by detecting the antibodies the body produces as soon as melanoma develops. The team analysed 1,627 different types of antibodies, and narrowed them down to a combination of 10 that indicate the presence of melanoma in the body.
“If this is successful we would hope to be able to have a test ready for use in pathology clinics shortly afterwards,” said Professor Mel Ziman of the Melanoma Research Group.
> Shatabdi Sarker Poushi

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