Researchers identified blood-based biomarkers that can tell inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) apart from other breast cancer types. The team used a new RNA sequencing method to study blood, cells and plasma.
Because tumor tissue is hard to obtain, blood markers could make diagnosis and monitoring easier. Using the robust sequencing method, researchers found higher levels of noncoding RNAs and higher white blood cell counts in IBC blood. In plasma, IBC samples had many intron RNA fragments while healthy plasma mostly carried mRNA fragments. The study appears in Science Advances and could help develop better treatments for this aggressive cancer.
Difficult words
- biomarker — A substance in the body used to detect diseasebiomarkers
- noncoding RNA — RNA molecule that does not make a proteinnoncoding RNAs
- plasma — The liquid part of blood
- intron — A noncoding part of a gene
- sequencing — A method to read the order of DNA or RNA
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Discussion questions
- Do you think blood tests for cancer would be useful? Why?
- If a blood test finds cancer earlier, how could that help a patient?
- Have you or someone you know had a blood test for health? What was it for?
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