Blood test could spot cancer five years earlier

A BLOOD test has been developed that may spot lung cancer five years before traditional scans.

Early results from a major trial showed how antibodies produced by the immune system could help diagnose lung cancer.

Of around 6,000 high-risk patients, about 600 tested positive for the antibodies.

Among these, 207 had lung nodules – lumps of tissue that may be cancerous or benign. Chest X-rays and CT scans confirmed 16 cases of lung cancer among the positive-testing patients, three-quarters of which were at an early stage.

Experts believe it has the potential to reveal cancers that would otherwise be undetected for years.

The Scottish study, presented at the British Thoracic Society’s winter meeting in London, recruited 12,000 adults aged 50 to 75 at high risk of lung cancer. Half had the new blood test and the rest received typical diagnosis and care.

Research co-leader Dr Stuart Schembri, of the University of Dundee, said: ‘Our best hope for successful treatment is to detect it as early as possible. It is just not possible to scan everyone who is high-risk. We need to find a way to detect cancer before patients present with symptoms.

‘This test may help us to detect lung cancer in its earliest stages.’

The scientists are monitoring the progress of the participants over the next two years to see if the test can reduce the incidence of late-stage lung cancer.