A study suggests that breast cancer could be diagnosed with a blood test in the future

I know that the women in my life hate getting a mammogram, and mammograms are only around 87% accurate. Many women often skip a mammogram because of how uncomfortable it is for them. It would benefit all women if a more accurate test were to be developed that did not involve a woman having to do what they have to do for a mammogram. 

Researchers have discovered that a particular blood test known as a liquid biopsy may be able to predict whether a patient has breast cancer at an early stage and whether it is likely to reoccur. All that would be required is a routine blood draw at a doctor's office. The study appeared in Nature's Breast Cancer journal. The findings suggest that in the future, a quick blood test will allow doctors to diagnose patients with breast cancer. Larger clinical trials are needed to demonstrate its effectiveness for all women. 

The research team conducted this study on 100 breast cancer patients and 40 healthy individuals. They put to the test their theory that a high-definition liquid biopsy could identify a variety of cancer biomarkers, including the so-called "oncosomes." Oncosomes are nanosized, membrane-enclosed cargo carriers, which are released by cancer cells and improve the environment in the body for cancer growth. 

Abstract
Breast cancer (BC) affects 1 in every 8 women in the United States and is currently the most prevalent cancer worldwide. Precise staging at diagnosis and prognosis are essential components for the clinical management of BC patients. In this study, we set out to evaluate the feasibility of the high-definition single cell (HDSCA) liquid biopsy (LBx) platform to stratify late-stage BC, early-stage BC, and normal donors using peripheral blood samples. Utilizing 5 biomarkers, we identified rare circulating events with epithelial, mesenchymal, endothelial and hematological origin. We detected a higher level of CTCs in late-stage patients, compared to the early-stage and normal donors. Additionally, we observed more tumor-associated large extracellular vesicles (LEVs) in the early-stage, compared to late-stage and the normal donor groups. Overall, we were able to detect reproducible patterns in the enumeration of rare cells and LEVs of cancer vs. normal donors and early-stage vs. late-stage BC with high accuracy, allowing for robust stratification. Our findings illustrate the feasibility of the LBx assay to provide robust detection of rare circulating events in peripheral blood draws and to stratify late-stage BC, early-stage BC, and normal donor samples.

The link should open to the full study. Let me know if it doesn't and I will come up with an alternative way for you to read it.
Multianalyte liquid biopsy to aid the diagnostic workup of breast cancer