Princeton geoscientists Xinning Zhang and Ashley Maloney have discovered that a geology technique shows promise in detecting cancer-like cells. If their preliminary results bear out, they may have identified a new signature for cancer, which could mean earlier diagnosis and better outcomes. Their work appeared in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The work focuses on two variants of hydrogen, which biogeochemists like Zhang and Maloney have long used to interpret past climates, but which turn out to also leave an isotopic footprint in cancer cells. “This naturally occurring signal can help us understand health and disease,” said Zhang, an assistant professor of geosciences and the High Meadows Environmental Institute.
The work is preliminary but promising, said Sebastian Kopf, a co-author of the study and an assistant professor in geological sciences at the University of Colorado-Boulder, in a statement: “Your chances of survival are so much higher if you catch cancer early on. If this isotopic signal is strong enough that you could detect it through something like a blood test, that could give you an important hint that something is off.” To read the full story.