Israeli Researchers Develop Blood Test for Early Breast Cancer and Recurrence
Israeli researchers developed a blood test achieving 95% accuracy in early breast cancer detection and 81% accuracy in predicting recurrence risk, outperforming traditional biopsies.
Israeli researchers have developed a novel blood test capable of detecting early-stage breast cancer with 95% accuracy and predicting the risk of disease recurrence better than invasive biopsies. The findings, published today in the scientific journal Nature, stem from a collaborative effort between the Weizmann Institute of Science, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and Kaplan Medical Center.
Mapping the Epigenetic Signature
Traditional early detection of cancer through circulating DNA in the bloodstream poses significant challenges due to low concentrations in early stages, often resulting in false alarms. To overcome this, researchers focused on identifying epigenetic tags—cellular instructions that dictate gene activity without altering the DNA sequence itself. Dr. Noa Pert and Dr. Kristina Reinschneider from Prof. Efrat Shema's laboratory at the Weizmann Institute, alongside Yishai Arieli from Prof. Guy Ron's team at the Hebrew University, analyzed surgical tissue samples from breast cancer patients to decode their unique epigenetic signatures.
By leveraging advanced single-molecule microscopy and fluorescent markers developed in Prof. Shema's lab, the team mapped epigenetic changes across millions of nucleosomes—DNA segments wrapped around proteins. The researchers then trained artificial intelligence models on blood samples from 77 breast cancer patients monitored for at least five years at the Mayo Clinic in Florida, alongside 30 healthy individuals. The test achieved 95% accuracy in identifying early-stage breast cancer when tumors were localized and smaller than two centimeters, outperforming traditional mammography in dense breast tissues.
Predicting Disease Recurrence
Beyond early diagnosis, the research team investigated whether blood-based epigenetic signatures could signal the risk of cancer recurrence, which occurs in 20% to 40% of successfully treated cases. The analysis revealed a rare population of aggressive, invasive cells hiding within seemingly non-aggressive tumors. By tracking the epigenetic footprint of these aggressive cells in patient blood samples, researchers successfully predicted recurrence with 81% accuracy, identifying high-risk patients who were initially classified as low-risk under standard clinical metrics.
Prof. Shema emphasized the role of epigenetic plasticity in cancer progression, noting that researchers are currently exploring therapies designed to strip cancer cells of this flexibility. The study was led by researchers from the Weizmann Institute and the Hebrew University, in collaboration with Kaplan Medical Center, Sheba Medical Center, and research teams from the United States and Europe.
