Cancer warning signs may appear in DNA years before blood tests detect trouble

DNA patterns could reveal whether certain blood cancers are progressing years before routine tests detect those changes, new research suggests.

A study, published in the journal Cancer Discovery by the American Association for Cancer Research, followed 30 people with myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs), a group of blood cancers in which the bone marrow produces too many blood cells.

Researchers monitored DNA in the patients’ blood and bone marrow for genetic changes, then examined...