Nature Sub-Journal: New artificial intelligence blood testing technology can identify lung cancer with high precision

This detection method is called DELFI (DNA evaluation of fragments for early interception), and it finds a unique pattern in the DNA fragments shed by cancer cells circulating in the blood

Combining this test with clinical risk factor analysis, protein biomarker analysis, and then computed tomography imaging, DELFI helped detect 94% of patients with cancer stages and subtypes

Lung cancer is the most common cause of cancer deaths, killing nearly 2 million people worldwide every year

Dimitrios Mathios, the first author of the study and a postdoctoral fellow at the Johns Hopkins University Kimmel Cancer Center, said: "It is clear that there is an urgent need to develop alternative, non-invasive methods to improve cancer screening for high-risk populations.

DELFI technology uses blood tests to indirectly measure the way DNA is packaged in the nucleus by studying the size and quantity of circulating free DNA from different regions of the genome

In this study, researchers from Johns Hopkins University collaborated with researchers in Denmark and the Netherlands to first analyze cell-free DNA in blood samples from 365 individuals who participated in a 7-year study called LUCAS in Denmark.

A national clinical trial called Delfi-l101 sponsored by Delfi Diagnostics, a subsidiary of Johns Hopkins University, is evaluating a Delfi-based test for 1,700 participants in the United States, including healthy participants, lung cancer patients, and other cancers Patient

Journal Reference :

1. Dimitrios Mathios, Jakob Sidenius Johansen, Stephen Cristiano, Jamie E.