Weird Oncological Science

The Telegraph (U.K.) reports medical research by a team of scientists from Northwestern and Harvard universities which discovered a test that predicts as much as 13 years in advance which individuals will be diagnosed with cancer. Hat tip to Lucianne.com for the link.

They found that the protective caps on the ends of chromosomes, which prevent DNA damage, had significantly more wear and tear in people who went on to develop cancer. In fact, in some cases they looked 15 years older.

Those caps, known as telomeres, were much shorter than they should be and continued to get shorter until around four years before the cancer developed, when they suddenly stopped shrinking. All the people with the changes went on to develop cancer.

We saw a strong relationship in the pattern across a wide variety of cancers.

At the very least, knowing one is at high risk would encourage early detection when treatment is more successful and less gruesome. Perhaps a way can be found to keep telomeres from shrinking rapidly.