Early diagnosis of brain tumor: the important discovery made by a Japanese team
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A Japanese study, conducted by a group of scientists from the universities of Tokyo and Nagoya and led by the two scientists Takao Yasui and Yoshinobu Baba, could open a valuable way to defeat one of the deadliest cancerswhat affects the brain.
Early diagnosis of brain tumor: Two key proteins discovered in urine
What did Japanese researchers find? Simple ones urine analysis may allow for early diagnosis of brain cancer. Scholars have found two key proteins contained in the urine, which would reveal the presence of cancer at a stage prior to its full-blown development in the brain areas.
To carry out the research, the Japanese team of experts took urine samples from patients with brain neoplasms, noting two specific types of proteins, CD31/CD63, associated with the development of brain cancer. But the groundbreaking study went such a discovery, thanks to the development of a device that diagnoses the presence of these specific elements in human urine.
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The research results open up the hope of ‘packaging’ a targeted cure capable of affecting the tumor at an early stage, i.e. when the disease still allows for greater possibilities of intervention with higher success rates.
Non-invasive method
The other advantage of this method is the non-invasiveness of the exam and the ease with which it can be performed. “The liquid biopsy can be performed through different types of bodily fluids”, say the Japanese researchers, according to which “this method could facilitate the identification of the tumor before the development of symptoms”.
In recent years, for some types of tumors, the discoveries on early diagnosis have increased survival rates. However, brain tumors are not part of this phenomenon, on which, again with regard to early diagnosis, no progress has been made. The Japanese discovery (here the study) could change the cards on the table.
Brain tumor, the challenge: moving from study to treatment
Of course, from the study to the development of a concrete cure, there is a lot of work to be done but the discovery could lay the foundations for a revolution in the early diagnosis of brain cancer.
“Our platform could allow us to advance the analysis of expression levels of specific membrane proteins in urinary EVs of patients. This possibility represents a significant step forward in the early diagnosis of various types of cancer,” explain the authors of the study published in the American Chemical Society journal Nano.
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