Blood test shows promise for detecting breast cancer recurrence

A research team at Kumamoto University has developed a blood-based approach that could help detect breast cancer recurrence by looking beyond conventional genetic mutations and examining how DNA is packaged inside cells. The study, published in Cancer Research Communications, analyzed cell-free DNA (cfDNA)—tiny DNA fragments circulating in the bloodstream—from 150 breast cancer samples, including 105 from primary breast cancer and 45 from recurrent or metastatic disease.