This new test kit can detect cancer with just one drop of blood!

Chinese scientists have invented a new test, which could help diagnose multiple kinds of cancer by examining just one drop of human blood.

The test kit of Hsp90a protein has been developed by the researchers at Tsinghua University's School of Life Sciences for clinical use.

Key Highlights

• The scientists had previously identified a kind of heat shock proteins (HSP) called Hsp90a that exist within the human body and can be used as a cancer biomarker.

• Leading on from there, lead researcher Luo Yongzhang along with his team produced an artificial Hsp90a protein that gains structural stability by regrouping proteins.

• This feat indicates that the protein can be created in any quantity and at any time.

• The test kit was used for clinical trials that involved around 2347 patients in eight Chinese hospitals.

• The protein passed the clinical trial, first such one to see if it could be used as a tumour biomarker for lung cancer.

The kit has now received approval to enter the Chinese and European markets, almost 24 years after the protein was first discovered.

About 8.8 million deaths, almost 15.7 per cent of all deaths in the world, are caused by cancer. In China alone, 4.29 million people were diagnosed with cancer in 2015, among which almost 2.8 million people died in the same year.