Fermiscan technology extended -
International Journal of Cancer 2005

In a paper published in the International Journal of Cancer entitled "Early diagnosis of breast cancer by hair diffraction" Int. J. Cancer 2005 vol. 114: 969-972 Veronica James, Gary Corino, Terry Robertson, Nichole Dutton, Danka Halas, Alexandra Boyd, Jacqueline Bentel and John Papadimitriou, the finding was confirmed and extended. Click here to access the full paper

"A correlation between the incidence of breast cancer and an observed change in the X-ray diffraction pattern of hair from the afflicted individuals was first reported in 1999. Since that time, over 500 hair samples have been analyzed in double-blinded breast cancer studies with no false negatives being detected. To correlate this observed change with the presence of breast cancer, we examined whiskers removed from nude mice prior to and 8 weeks after subcutaneous implantation of a human breast cancer cell line. Here we show that the change observed in human hair was also evident in whiskers and that it appeared soon after cancer cell implantation."

The following data is presented:

"To date, 1,365 human hair samples have been studied. Over 500 (90% not previously reported) of these samples have been specifically examined for the presence of breast cancer in a number of blinded studies. To date, there have been no false negatives reported and the results of these studies have been summarized in Table I and are available in detail on the International Journal of Cancer Web site. Three sets of data (95 samples in total) were analyzed by an independent scientist (solid-state physicist) and reported identical results to V. James except for one false negative. Sheet 2 of the data stored on the Web site comprises the results of 50 samples from breast cancer patients where the samples were collected prior to any treatment, thus negating the possibility that the fiber diffraction change results from surgical, radiation, or chemotherapy treatments or any related healing processes. The 1,365 hair samples studied included additional samples from patients with cancers at other sites.

Although none of these showed the specific change associated with breast cancer, samples that showed any changes are being followed up with larger sets of samples once that change can be attributed to a particular type of cancer. A paper reporting the results for samples that included an epithelial colon tumour line has been published.

It has subsequently been observed that the change in diffraction pattern is visible in hair before the malignancy was detected by mammography (only 7 cases can be reported as not all false positives have been followed up). Therefore the false positives in Table I may not be false. Further studies on 12 women considered cured revealed a normal fiber diffraction pattern except in the 2 cases where the women were later found to have a mirror-image carcinoma (data not shown). These tests are ongoing and will hopefully continue for 14 years after surgery."

Results of human breast cancer studies

* Includes 6 individuals with a strong family history and 10 individuals for whom the results were noted to have a very weak ring, possibly indicating breast cancer. If these were excluded, the specificity would be 89%. It was not possible to perform follow-up experiments on the 47 false positives or to find out if any of these individuals later developed cancer.

Animal study of X-ray diffraction and cancer

A semi-independent validation of the assay was achieved in an animal study, and included by James et al in the above International Journal of Cancer paper.

To correlate the observed change with the presence of breast cancer, in a double blind study, an independent group of researchers provided whiskers removed from nude mice prior to, and 8 weeks after, subcutaneous implantation of a human breast cancer cell line. The coded whiskers were analysed by X-ray diffraction which the researchers correctly identified all the whiskers from the mice implanted with breast cancer cells, with no positives noted in the control mice.

This data indicated that the change associated with the presence of breast cancer reported using X-ray diffraction of human hair could also be induced in whiskers of mice implanted with human breast cancer cells, and that it appeared soon after cancer cell implantation. After discussion of these results the International Journal of Cancer paper concludes with the following statement:

"...these results indicate that as a non-invasive screening test, diffraction of hair would not only identify the presence of breast cancer at a much earlier stage than any other current method, but could also confirm the success of any treatment. A screening test of this kind would be completely non-invasive and totally user-friendly and could be used to screen women of all ages safely, particularly those under 40 years of age where exposure to X-radiation is inadvisable."

Excerpts from International Journal of Cancer 2005; 114: 969-972, 2005 "Early diagnosis of breast cancer by hair diffraction".

Back to top