Scientists working on blood test that could detect breast cancer

BOSTON - Scientists are working on a blood test that could detect breast cancer at its earliest stage.

Studying blood samples from three high-risk women who developed breast cancer and three high-risk women who did not, researchers in the Netherlands identified six proteins in the blood that changed in the two years before the women were diagnosed.

The scientists plan to study more patients, but hope in the next few years they can develop a simple blood test that can be used to screen for early breast cancer in patients at high risk for the disease.

Mallika Marshall, MD

Mallika Marshall, MD is an Emmy-award-winning journalist and physician who has served as the HealthWatch Reporter for CBS Boston/WBZ-TV for over 20 years. A practicing physician Board Certified in both Internal Medicine and Pediatrics, Dr. Marshall serves on staff at Harvard Medical School and practices at Massachusetts General Hospital at the MGH Chelsea Urgent Care and the MGH Revere Health Center, where she is currently working on the frontlines caring for patients with COVID-19. She is also a host and contributing editor for Harvard Health Publications (HHP), the publishing division of Harvard Medical School.

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