Cancer warning signs may appear in DNA years before blood tests detect trouble

DNA patterns could reveal whether certain blood cancers are progressing years before routine tests detect those changes, new research suggests.

A study, published in the journal Cancer Discovery by the American Association for Cancer Research , followed 30 people with myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs), a group of blood cancers in which the bone marrow produces too many blood cells.

Researchers monitored DNA in the patients’ blood and bone marrow for genetic changes , then examined whether those changes were associated with blood counts, stable disease or progression to myelofibrosis or acute leukemia.

MAN WHO BEAT RARE CANCER CELEBRATES BY CANOEING 2,000 MILES WITH HIS DOG People who stayed stable often had stable DNA without cancer-related genetic changes.

This suggests a genetically "quiet" MPN is more likely to remain stable, according to the researchers, who are based at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in the U.K.

Patients whose disease worsened often showed DNA changes years before routine blood tests detected progression as new groups of abnormal cells emerged and grew, according to the study.

Nine participants eventually developed acute myeloid leukemia (AML), but their disease did not progress in the same way.

TEST YOURSELF WITH OUR LATEST LIFESTYLE QUIZ In some, MPN cells gradually accumulated harmful mutations; in others, the leukemia appeared to arise from a separate group of abnormal blood cells.

Similar differences were seen in those who developed myelofibrosis.

The researchers also found that hydroxyurea, a common medication used to control blood counts in people with MPN, leaves a recognizable pattern of small DNA changes in blood cells.

There was no evidence, however, that the drug causes leukemia.

A similar pattern was linked to azacitidine, a drug used to treat certain blood cancers.

Three participants had "triple-negative" essential thrombocythemia, a condition generally classified as a blood cancer, yet researchers found no genetic signs of cancer in their samples.

The finding raises the possibility that some patients given this diagnosis may not have a malignant disease and may not need long-term cancer treatment .