medicine
A blood test that predicts how your illness will unfold
Imperial College researchers built a blood test that reads RNA markers to predict whether patients will recover or deteriorate, potentially available within five years.
There were some big health wins, Mexico pledged free healthcare for all, and Amsterdam pulled the plug on fossil fuel ads, plus more good news
There were some big health wins, Mexico pledged free healthcare for all, and Amsterdam pulled the plug on fossil fuel ads, plus more good news
In a potential gamechanger for patient care, a new blood test has successfully predicted how diseases will progress in patients – and how they will respond to treatment. In a proof-of-concept study – the results of which were published this week – scientists used the test to predict patient outcomes for a range of health conditions, including infectious and chronic disease. According to Imperial College London, which led the research, it was even able to predict how patients with inflammatory bowel disease would respond to a course of therapy. The test works by analysing RNA markers in the blood. When people fall ill, some genes switch ‘on’ and ‘off’ as the body mounts a response, leaving behind the markers. “The patterns of gene expression we see in the blood offer clues as to what is happening… not just where someone is right now, but where they are going to be in the next few hours or days,” said Imperial’s Dr Clair Duncan. “This could tell us whether they will get better or deteriorate, and how they might respond to treatment.” Further research is needed, but Imperial said that a working test could be available within as little as five years, with the potential to improve patient outcomes. Image: Gustavo Fring
In a potential gamechanger for patient care, a new blood test has successfully predicted how diseases will progress in patients – and how they will respond to treatment.
In a proof-of-concept study – the results of which were published this week – scientists used the test to predict patient outcomes for a range of health conditions, including infectious and chronic disease. According to Imperial College London, which led the research, it was even able to predict how patients with inflammatory bowel disease would respond to a course of therapy.
The test works by analysing RNA markers in the blood. When people fall ill, some genes switch ‘on’ and ‘off’ as the body mounts a response, leaving behind the markers.
“The patterns of gene expression we see in the blood offer clues as to what is happening… not just where someone is right now, but where they are going to be in the next few hours or days,” said Imperial’s Dr Clair Duncan. “This could tell us whether they will get better or deteriorate, and how they might respond to treatment.”
Further research is needed, but Imperial said that a working test could be available within as little as five years, with the potential to improve patient outcomes.
A decade of rapid growth in Alzheimer’s research is “reshaping what the future could hold for people living with the disease”. That’s according to a review of emerging treatments, published on Tuesday. It found that the number of potential new drugs for Alzheimer’s has surged by 40% in a decade. The study noted that researchers are now testing drugs that could help people at every stage of Alzheimer’s; from those who have no symptoms but are at risk of the disease, to those in the later, more severe stages. “The 2026 pipeline review gives me huge optimism that we’re building towards a future in which Alzheimer’s can be effectively treated – and, in time, prevented,” said lead researcher Dr Jeffrey Cummings from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, US. Alzheimer’s Research UK welcomed the findings. “The Alzheimer’s drug pipeline is now the largest and most diverse it has ever been, and that breadth increases the chances of finding treatments people urgently need,” said Dr Sheona Scales, the charity’s director of research. Image: Vitaly Gariev
A decade of rapid growth in Alzheimer’s research is “reshaping what the future could hold for people living with the disease”.
That’s according to a review of emerging treatments, published on Tuesday. It found that the number of potential new drugs for Alzheimer’s has surged by 40% in a decade.
The study noted that researchers are now testing drugs that could help people at every stage of Alzheimer’s; from those who have no symptoms but are at risk of the disease, to those in the later, more severe stages.