Cancer researcher honoured
Claus Lindbjerg Andersen from Aarhus University and Aarhus University Hospital has just received a personal award from the William Nielsen's Foundation. He receives the award in recognition of his research into bowel cancer.
How is cancer identified with the help of blood tests? This question is the focal point of Claus Lindbjerg Andersen's research. One of his discoveries is that it is possible to find DNA from cancer cells in blood samples. This is a very important finding, because cancer DNA is only found in the blood when there are also cancer cells in the body.
This means that via testing of blood samples, it is possible to assess whether cancer patients still have the disease in the body following an operation. Patients with residual disease following surgery have close to a one hundred percent risk of suffering a relapse, and the new test makes it possible to offer these patients extra treatment with chemotherapy, while those patients who do not have cancer DNA in their blood can similarly avoid unnecessary treatment.
Contact
Professor Claus Lindbjerg Andersen
Aarhus University, Department of Clinical Medicine and
Aarhus University Hospital, Department of Molecular Medicine
Tel.: (+45) 7845 5319
Email: cla@clin.au.dk