new blood test for cancer

details here:
http://www.webmd.com/cancer/news/20060913/blood-test-for-cancer

Joe

A quick search of PubMed did not show anything new in cancer screening. Much of the research seems directed at using tNOX to direct anti-cancer drugs to the right spot.

Excerpt from tNOX blood test from that web page (http://www.webmd.com/cancer/news/20060913/blood-test-for-cancer):
Sept. 13, 2006 (Chicago) -- Researchers have identified a protein in the blood present only in people with cancer that may help doctors spot cancer early.

The protein, called tNOX, is the first tumor marker for all cancers ever described, says D. James Morre, PhD, distinguished professor of medicinal chemistry at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind.

"If tNOX is present, cancer is present," he tells WebMD. "Presumably, the more there is, the worse the disease."
Putting tNOX to the Test

Normal cells have the NOX enzyme only when they are dividing in response to growth hormone signals. In contrast, cancer cells have NOX activity at all times.

This overactive form of NOX, known as tNOX -- for tumor-associated NOX -- has long been thought to be vital for the growth of cancer cells because drugs that inhibit tNOX activity also block tumor cell growth.

In two new studies presented here at a meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research, Morre and colleagues put the protein to the test.

It passed with flying colors, he says.