Tel Aviv University's $60 blood test spots lung cancer without DNA sequencing

Researchers led by Prof. Yuval Ebenstein of Tel Aviv University's School of Chemistry have developed a simple, low-cost blood test for lung cancer, as Ebenstein described in Ynetnews on 4 August 2026 and Tel Aviv University's American friends announced on 11 August. The work, carried out with the Israeli company JaxBio Technologies, Bnai Zion Medical Center in Haifa and Sheba Medical Center, was published in npj Precision Oncology; oncologist Dr. Abed Agbarya of Bnai Zion was lead author and main clinical researcher.

Most blood-based cancer tests, known as liquid biopsies, rely on sequencing the fragments of tumour DNA that circulate in the bloodstream, which is expensive and requires specialised laboratories. Ebenstein's approach skips sequencing entirely. The team extracts cell-free DNA from a blood sample, attaches a light-emitting chemical label to it and binds it to a custom glass chip. An optical scanner then reads how brightly each spot glows. The pattern reflects chemical changes on the DNA that are characteristic of cancer, and software compares it with a signature drawn from 170 regions of the genome.

In a study of 103 people, 51 with lung cancer and 52 healthy controls, the test identified 93 percent of stage 2 to 4 cancers and correctly cleared about 90 percent of the healthy volunteers. It held up on a separate blinded validation group and could also distinguish the two main types of lung cancer, adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma. Each test costs about $60 and returns results in two to three days, and because it needs no sequencing it can run in ordinary clinical labs.

The researchers see it as a complement to imaging, both for diagnosis and for tracking whether treatment is working, though they stress that the monitoring results are preliminary. Dr. Ari Raphael of Rabin Medical Center, who was not involved, told The Times of Israel that the real test will be whether it can detect stage 1 disease, when surgery is most likely to cure. Larger studies are planned.