Tears to detect diseases? how?

According to a recent study, tears contain tracers that can be used for the early detection of cancer, diabetes and Parkinson’s, deliver oxygen and nutrients to the eyes, remove waste, serve as the first line of defense against pathogens and help heal injuries. The markers for many of the most common and devastating diseases, such as cancer, multiple sclerosis, diabetes mellitus, cystic fibrosis, and Parkinson’s disease, are found in tears.

Tears contain trace amounts of the various chemicals originally present in the blood, some of which serve as markers of disease. For example, they contain glucose, which can indicate diabetes, or enzymes that point to possible liver disease. A technology called TearExo has been developed for the detection of breast cancer using tears collected by patients themselves, which could greatly reduce testing costs and allow earlier detection of malignancy than mammograms can provide.

Tear testing could also have an impact on the COVID-19 pandemic. Research is currently underway that has focused on developing a test to diagnose SARS-CoV-2 infections, as well as document previous infections, through antibody testing. These tests are usually done on blood, but coronavirus RNA has also been detected in tears, and antibodies to the virus can also be measured in tears.

This means that a cheap and rapid tear test could be developed in the near future and, since no needles are used, this could, in principle, also be administered at home. Unbelievable!

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