Cancer, heart disease and diabetes could
soon be diagnosed using a simple spit test
· The tests could lead to much earlier diagnosis and treatment
· They work by picking up indicators of inflammation in the saliva
· Patients wouldn't need to see a doctor - they would just swab their mouth and send the sample away for analysis
By EMMA INNES
PUBLISHED: 17:03 GMT,
2 August 2013
Cancer and other life-threatening illnesses
could be diagnosed by a simple saliva test within the next decade, according to
experts.
Researchers say their research has the potential
to revolutionize how heart disease, diabetes and cancers are diagnosed, meaning
the conditions are discovered and treated earlier.They say saliva samples could
help save time and money for patients and doctors, as it means more people
could access preliminary medical examinations by just sending their spit.
Cancer and other life-threatening illnesses
could be diagnosed by a simple saliva test within the next decade
Research leader Professor Björn Klinge, of Malmo
University in Sweden, said: ‘An early diagnosis has significant implications
for both patients and healthcare.
‘Instead of having to visit the doctor, patients
will be able to swab the inside of their mouth with a cotton bud and send it
away for analysis.
‘If the test shows signs of illness, the patient
will be called in to a doctor.’
Using saliva samples could help save time and
money for patients and doctors, as it means more people could access
preliminary medical examinations by just sending their spit.Professor Klinge
said: ‘We are interested in public health and preventative action and we hope
to get a broader spectrum of people getting diagnosed earlier. ‘There are many
people who are health conscious but there is quite a big group who for many
reasons, including their socio-economic status, do not have the same level of
access to healthcare and sometimes people have problem getting to a medical
unit.
Researchers say the discovery has the potential
to revolutionise how heart disease, diabetes and cancers are diagnosed meaning
the conditions are discovered and treated earlier ‘It makes it so much easier
if they can just send a saliva sample in a plastic bag. ‘We will be able to
reach parts of the population that we haven’t reached before, and that will
increase our chances of detecting illnesses at an early stage.’
They believe the technique could be common
practice among healthcare services within the next five to 10 years, by which
time the technology will be more accurate in picking out different conditions
that have similar characteristics.
Professor Klinge said: ‘Today, we can use a
saliva sample to determine whether a patient is suffering from an inflammatory
disease, but we can’t say if the disease resides within the stomach or joints. Illnesses
that cause inflammation, like diabetes, heart disease and cancer, leave
tell-tale traces in spit. ‘Neither can we differentiate between prostate and
bowel cancer, for example.‘It will be a matter of five to 10 years before we
reach that level of accuracy.’Illnesses that cause inflammation, like diabetes,
heart disease and cancer, leave tell-tale traces in spit.
However, natural processes in the body make it
difficult to judge what stage a disease may be at.
Professor Klinge said: ‘We have for a long time
been looking to identify inflammation markers in saliva, blood and other body
fluids. ‘We are trying to identify inflammation’s fingerprint in the body,
but the body tries to counteract the activities that are going on so you can’t
always be sure of the magnitude of an illness because the body is working to
minimise the presence of the markers.‘So it’s not a simple, straight-forward
case of the worse the disease the larger the sample.’
As for future studies, Professor Klinge added:
‘We hope to find components in the saliva that will show when patients are in
the process of developing a cardiovascular disease.’The news comes just after
it was revealed that a simple test that predicts the risk of developing breast
or prostate cancer could soon be available at GPs’ surgeries.
The £5 test, which will use saliva or blood,
would help detect people who are genetically prone the diseases.
The hope is that high-risk patients could then
be monitored to catch any tumours in their early stages, slashing the number of
people dying from the disease.Experts have hailed the breakthrough as the
'single biggest leap forward' in finding the genetic causes of prostate cancer.
