WASHINGTON (Reuters) - US researchers have developed a new blood test that can detect 20 types of cancer with a high accuracy of more than 99 percent.

The study, conducted by researchers at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute in the United States, presented its findings at the European Society of Medical Oncology conference, which will take place from September 27 to October 1, 2019, in Barcelona, ​​Spain.

The new test uses the next-generation gene sequencing technique to test DNA for small chemical markers that affect whether genes are active or inactive, the researchers said.

The new test was tested on 3553 blood samples, including 1,530 samples from patients with cancer, and the rest from people who were not diagnosed with cancer at the time of drawing blood.

Patient samples consisted of more than twenty types of cancer, including breast, colorectal, esophagus, gallbladder, stomach, head and neck, lung, lymphocytic leukemia, ovarian cancer, and pancreas.

The test succeeded in obtaining a cancer signal from cancer patient samples, and correctly identified the tumor tissue from where the cancer began, in what is known as the tissue of origin.

The accuracy of the test was 99.4%, meaning only 0.6% of the results incorrectly indicated that the cancer was present.

The researchers found that the specificity of the test lies in its ability to determine the positive result of cancer only when the tumor already exists, and this privacy was high, as well as its ability to identify the organ affected, in what is known as tissue of origin.

According to the team, the new test looks for the DNA of cancer cells in the bloodstream when they die.

Unlike liquid biopsies, which reveal genetic mutations or other cancer-related alterations in DNA, the new test technique focuses on DNA modifications known as methyl groups.

The detection of abnormal patterns of methyl groups has in many cases been found to indicate cancer and its type more accurately than genetic mutations, which distinguishes the new test from other tests currently available.

Lead researcher Dr. Jeffrey Oxnard said the test results reveal that methyl-based assays outperform traditional DNA sequencing methods to detect multiple forms of cancer in blood samples.

He added that the results of the new study shows that the new test is a useful way to screen people for cancer and early detection, and this enables patients to get effective treatment early in the injury.