A simple stick in the finger can reveal most kinds of cancer, long before they become dangerous. This technology is now becoming increasingly accurate and Swedish researchers at SciLifeLab have received SEK 400 million to continue to develop it with the help of AI.
– I absolutely think that everyone in this country and maybe in the world will take a blood test in this way once a year to see if you have a sign of these diseases, says Mathias Uhlén, professor at KTH and SciLiljelab.
In a single blood test, there are plenty of proteins in different concentrations, and the researchers have discovered that the content of certain proteins is increasing or decreasing in connection with cancer. Through advanced analysis, it is now hoped to be able to predict if a person will eventually develop symptoms of a certain cancer disease.
The role of protein in early detection
Already today, the researchers have mapped the protein profiles for 19 different types of cancer, where the right treatment can make a big difference. Mathias Uhlén points out that if the disease is detected early, the prognosis is significantly improved:
– For many of these cancers, if you find it late, you only have a 10-20 percent chance of survival for five years. While finding them early before you have symptoms, you have an 80-90 percent chance of survival, says Mathias Uhlén.
Technical advances in recent months have made the tests more accurate, and the research team has received SEK 400 million in new grants to further develop the AI models. The ambition is to identify more protein profiles that can sound alarms about different forms of cancer.
Long way to health care
Although basic research is largely completed, and that the method has been tested with blood tests from around 10,000 patients, extensive work remains before it begins to be used widely. According to Mathias Uhlén, these are regulatory processes and to ensure the method in larger studies where more patients are involved.
– It takes 10-15 years to go through the regulatory, test with larger patient material and then do tests that can be used in routine. But I absolutely hope that this will reach healthcare within this time frame so that we can help patients and save patients, he says.