A new method has been devised by analysts from Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and Harvard University through a study to predict cancer well in advance. The researchers noticed a clear pattern in the changing lengths of telomeres, the protective end caps on our strands of DNA.

Lifang Hou, lead author of the study and associate professor in Preventative Medicine - Cancer Epidemiology and Prevention at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, said, "Understanding this pattern. Understanding this pattern of telomere growth may mean it can be a predictive biomarker for cancer. Because we saw a strong relationship in the pattern across a wide variety of cancers, with the right testing these procedures could be used to eventually diagnose a wide variety of cancers".

The study saw measurement of telomeres in 792 people over a period of 13 years. The researchers eventually detected different types of cancers in total of 135 participants. The kinds of cancers they diagnosed those people with were prostate, skin, lung, leukemia and others.

According to the researchers, telomeres appeared as much as 15 years older in the participants who developed cancer than those who did not develop cancer. However, the researchers were left surprised by determining that accelerated aging stopped 3-4 years before cancer diagnosis.

Prof. Hou said the study helped them notice a strong relationship in the pattern across a wide variety of cancers. The right testing could significantly help diagnose cancers well in advance and bring earlier treatments.

The findings could give rise to blood tests for cancer cells. Experts have claimed that instances of breast cancer cells are likely to jump by 50% by 2030.

The new findings are vital for revolutionizing the way cancers are diagnosed before they become aggressive and providing treatment to save numerous lives that are currently lost to the lethal disease.