Blood Test for Cancer: In the United States, human papillomavirus (HPV) causes approximately 70% of head and neck cancers, making it the most common cancer associated with this virus. And this is rapidly increasing every year. What makes this cancer particularly challenging is that there is no available screening test for HPV-related head and neck cancer. Therefore, patients are often treated only when the tumour grows uncontrollably, producing symptoms and spreading to the lymph nodes.
Early detection allows patients access to better treatment options and increases the chances of recovery. Researchers at Mass General Brigham have now developed a test that can help identify HPV-related head and neck cancer up to 10 years before symptoms appear.
The findings of the new study have been published in the journal of the National Cancer Institute.
Researchers have developed an HPV-DeepSeek test, a blood-based cancer detection test that could revolutionise the screening of HPV-related head and neck cancers. This novel liquid biopsy tool can detect cancer earlier, potentially increasing treatment success and reducing the need for intensive therapies. Our study shows for the first time that we can accurately detect HPV-related cancers in individuals without symptoms, years before they would otherwise be diagnosed.
Lead author and head and neck cancer surgeon Dr. Daniel L. Faden, affiliated with Mass General Brigham Healthcare System and leading the Mike Toth Head and Neck Cancer Research Center at Mass Eye and Ear, said in a statement, “By the time patients present to our clinics with symptoms of cancer, they often require treatments that cause significant, lifelong side effects. We hope that tools like HPV-DeepSeek will help us detect these cancers in their earliest stages, potentially improving patient outcomes and quality of life.”
The new blood test, named HPV-DeepSeek, can detect tiny fragments of cancer-associated HPV DNA circulating in the blood. It works using a modern technique called genome sequencing. Previous research found this test to be up to 99% accurate in identifying cancer. Best of all, this test proved more reliable than all previous methods.
To further study the effectiveness of HPV-DeepSeek in detecting HPV-related head and neck cancer long before diagnosis, researchers tested 56 samples from the Mass General Brigham Biobank. Of these, 28 samples were collected from individuals who later developed HPV-related head and neck cancer, and 28 samples were from healthy individuals.
The new test detected cancer-associated HPV DNA in 22 out of 28 blood samples from patients who later developed cancer. This DNA was completely absent in the 28 healthy individuals. This clearly demonstrates the test's accuracy. Most strikingly, the blood samples showed signs of cancer 7.8 years in advance. Researchers further improved the test using machine learning, achieving 27 out of 28 correct results when samples were taken 10 years before cancer diagnosis.
