New blood test for lung cancer picks up signs FIVE YEARS before chest scans show damage
Breakthrough technique means patients could be treated much sooner, boosting their chances of survival
THOUSANDS of Brits could soon be screened for lung cancer using a new “breakthrough” blood test.
It can pick up signs of the disease five years before chest scans show any damage.
Patients could be treated with drugs much sooner – boosting their chances of survival.
Lung cancer is the deadliest in Britain, with around 38,000 deaths a year.
The test has been trialled on 6,000 people in Scotland.
They were at high-risk because they smoked or had a family history of the disease.
Medics take a blood sample and look for certain antibodies – “defender” cells produced by the immune system in response to tumours.
A protein on the surface of lung cancer cells triggers their release.
The results, presented at a meeting of the British Thoracic Society in London, showed one in 10 had the antibodies.
Follow-up scans have so far confirmed at least 16 have lung cancer, in most cases at a very early stage.
Lung cancer strikes more than 46,000 people a year in the UK.
By the time symptoms appear, the disease if often quite advanced.
Only one in 10 survive more than five years after diagnosis.
Doctors used the test, called Early CDT-Lung, on 6,000 heavy smokers or patients who had lost loved ones to lung cancer.
The ongoing study is comparing tumour rates with another 6,000 high-risk patients who are not having blood tests.
Research leader Dr Stuart Schembri , from Dundee University, said: “Lung cancer is a serious and life threatening illness.
“Our best hope for successful treatment is to detect it as early as possible.
“Heavy smokers are particularly at risk, but it is just not possible to scan everyone who is considered high risk.
“We therefore need to find a way to detect lung cancer before patients present with symptoms.
“Research has found that when cancer is present — even at an undetectable level — the body’s natural defence mechanism produces antibodies.”
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He said the simple blood test could save thousands of patients from the stress of unnecessary CT chest scans.
He added: “It may help us detect lung cancer in its earliest stages, when we have an improved chance of successful treatment.
Chest expert Dr Richard Russell from the British Lung Foundation said: “This is a very significant breakthrough.
“It could help identify who needs to have a CT scan and who does not.
“It’s a quick and simple blood test so there is no risk to the patient.
“Whether it is used for mass screening or not very depends on how many cancers are picked up overall in the study.”