Tumors, in precision medicine the possibility of early diagnosis
The development of precision medicine, one of the most recent applications in the medical field, can be of great help in cancer research and prevention. Each individual is a real ecosystem, made up partly of cells and partly of millions of bacteria. These bacteria intervene in many daily moments: from promoting proper digestion to influencing our mental state. Recently the new ones genome sequencing methods they have allowed us to know our microscopic ecosystem in an exponential way and consequently have allowed us to better understand the innumerable possibilities of research and treatments. Precisely in this direction goes the so-called “precision medicine”, which tries to give each patient a “tailor made” treatment. Especially in the early diagnosis and subsequent treatment of the tumor.
Tumors, microbes and pancreatic cancer
The medical-scientific journal Gut published a Spanish / German study of National Cancer Research Center (CNIO) in Madrid and the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Heidelberg. According to the study, the risk of pancreatic cancer could be detected early thanks to an analysis of the microbes present in the faeces. With this type of test, still being tested, it would be possible to overcome a frequent problem of this type of tumor. Unfortunately, the symptoms occur when it is too late to have surgery and mortality is very high. The analysis of feces, in a non-invasive way, would allow early diagnosis in the part of the population most at risk.
Tumors, a possible test at the hospital level or in primary care
The authors of the study confirm that it would be desirable that “this type of testing may be done at the hospital level or even in primary care, in screening programs such as fecal occult blood testing for colon cancer. This would help better identify the population at risk of suffering from an unusual type of cancer. Genetic criteria are now used, identifying people with rare mutations that predispose to these cancers or verifying if there is a family history, but that only reaches 10% of cases, but there is 90% of cases that are sporadic and it is necessary to define who are the high risk individuals In order to discover the relationship between a particular microbiome and cancer risk, the authors have studied 136 people: 57 people newly diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, 29 who had chronic pancreatitis and 50 who were under control. These people were given samples of pancreatic tissue, stool and saliva. While still not sure whether the tumor has changed the bacterial ecosystem or whether it was the microbial composition that favored the disease, the authors of the study they are more in favor of the second hypothesis. Microbes found in patients’ stools were also in their tumors, and the authors want to investigate this relationship further to find out what role these bacteria play in disease development. “In the next few years we will study the role of these bacteria in order to intervene with probiotics or antibiotics. At the moment we have applied for a patent to develop a diagnostic kit that detects these microbial genomes in feces”. Another great little hope to defeat the evil of the century.