Cheap, Quick and Accurate Cancer Detection

You may have a Toshiba laptop or maybe a Toshiba TV and eventually you may get a Toshiba blood test. That's right. And not just any test, but a lifesaving cancer detection test that's cheap and accurate. The company developed a machine that can detect thirteen cancers using a single drop of blood. That's far less involved than today's process for diagnosing cancer.

Today we look for physical symptoms, order CT scans and biopsies. All of this takes time, can be invasive and is expensive. Toshiba's test, by comparison, is just one hundred eighty dollars. Its machine measures the types and concentrations of microRNA molecules released into the blood by cancer cells.

MicroRNAs regulate how much of a protein is made which is different from messenger RNAs that actually provide the recipes for protein production. MicroRNAs are involved in cell reproduction and death, blood vessel development, and are like hormones that travel to cells in many parts of the body. They play a part in how cancer cells develop, progress and spread.

The new machine will be used to detect gastric, esophageal, lung, liver, pancreatic, bowel, ovarian, prostate, bladder and breast cancers was well as sarcomas and gliomas. They're also small enough to fit in most clinics. The machine may start medical trials next year and could be available within several years. What a game changer this could be.