Mayo Clinic researchers have developed a blood-based method that can help detect germ cell tumors, the most common type of testicular cancer, including cases that don’t show up on standard blood tests, according to a study published in Nature communications.
Testicular cancer most often affects teenagers and young adults and is highly treatable, especially when caught early. However, diagnosis can be difficult when tumors do not produce enough of the usual blood-based substances—called tumor markers—to show up on standard tests, which can make diagnosis more difficult.
To help solve this problem, the researchers used a method that analyzes thousands of immune system signals in the blood simultaneously. Using this approach, they developed a new test called GCT-iSIGN. In a study of 427 blood samples, the test identified 93% of people who had germ cell tumors and correctly ruled out cancer in 99% of people who did not. The test also caught 23 of 24 cases missed by standard blood tests. This gives doctors another way to find these cancers, especially in younger patients.
The researchers also developed a second test, called Sem-iSIGN, designed to distinguish between two main types of testicular cancer. This distinction is important because each type may require a different treatment approach.
The findings build on earlier work by the same research groups using immunological profiling to identify biomarkers linked to the paraneoplastic neurological syndrome associated with testicular cancer, including KLHL11 IgG, which was previously described in The New England Journal of Medicine.
When standard blood markers are negative, diagnosis and treatment planning may be delayed. Our findings point to a promising path toward a more sensitive blood testing approach, but additional studies are needed before it can be routinely used in patient care.”
Divyanshu Dubey, MBBS, senior and corresponding author of the study and professor of laboratory medicine and pathology and professor of neurology at the Mayo Clinic
Co-first authors are M. Bakri Hammami, MD, and Andrew M. Knight, Ph.D. Funding included support from the Department of Defense, as well as institutional and federal sources.
Mayo Clinic has a financial interest in the technology described in this news release. Any proceeds will be used to support Mayo Clinic’s nonprofit mission of patient care, education and research.
