Researchers in this study found a new way to look for signs of breast cancer using tiny particles in the blood called extracellular vesicles (EVs), which carry special proteins called glycoproteins. These proteins often change when cancer is present, but they’re hard to detect in regular blood tests. By studying EVs instead, the team was able to find over 1,400 unique glycoproteins, including many that had never been seen in blood before.
To confirm their results, the researchers created a new, more sensitive testing method and used blood samples from breast cancer patients and healthy donors, including samples from the. Komen Tissue Bank. They verified several glycoproteins that were higher in people with breast cancer, showing this could be a helpful, noninvasive way to detect the disease earlier using a blood test.
