IS THIS THE END OF SMEAR TESTS?

New procedure will let women send off swab to check for cervical cancer – avoiding ordeal of going to the doctor’s

AN end to the dreaded smear test is in sight thanks to a ‘game-changing’ advance.

a simple urine test, or swab, could allow women to test themselves for cervical cancer in the privacy and comfort of their home.

The british scientists behind the tests hope they will become routine within three to five years. In a study of 600 patients, ‘pre-cancer’ signs were identified with greater than 80 per cent accuracy – similar to existing methods.

The findings are crucial because cervical cancer screening rates have plunged to a 21-year low, with just seven in ten women attending. Many ignore invitation letters because they find smear tests painful or embarrassing. Others might prefer a home test because it saves time.

Women would send off the swabs or urine samples for laboratory analysis.

The tests, which have been developed by experts at Queen Mary university of london, look for chemical changes in Dna prompted by disease.

Dr belinda nedjai, who led the research, said: ‘Women in our study were really interested in being able to test themselves at home, rather than the doctor’s surgery, and wanted to know how soon this would be available. Over-50s in particular can avoid smear tests, as they can be more painful at this age, so a non-invasive test is needed to improve attendance.

‘We hope urine tests and swabs, done at home and posted away, could eventually

be part of the national screening programme. It is a good solution to offer to people who have received several invitations and not turned up.’

More than 3,000 women a year are diagnosed with cervical cancer, and more than 850 die from the disease.

Those aged from 25 to 64 are invited every three to five years for smear tests, which gently scrape away cells in the cervix to check for abnormalities.

The new study, presented at the National Cancer Research Institute conference in Glasgow, focuses instead on DNA. Most women diagnosed with cervical cancer have the HPV virus, which is passed on during sexual intercourse and can damage cervical cells, leading to cancer.

The urine test and swab detect changes to cell DNA from the most dangerous types of HPV. They also pick up changes to a gene called EPB41L3, which can fuel cervical cancer in women regardless of whether they are HPV-positive.

The study recruited 600 patients at the Royal London Hospital who had an abnormal smear test or were HPV-positive and asked them to test themselves.

The urine test accurately detected precancer in 83 per cent of women. And one of the four different swabs trialled was 88 per cent accurate. The results give women a risk score, so doctors know whether to give them further examinations.

The study found the tests were less likely than the standard HPV check to produce a ‘false positive’ that could see them have a painful and needless biopsy.

That could eventually mean women could skip smear tests, having only an HPV test and then taking a swab or urine test kit home. A larger study of 10,000 patients is planned for next year to confirm how well the test works. In the UK, nearly five million women are believed to be overdue for cervical screening.

Dr Manuel Rodriguez-Justo, a consultant pathologist at University College London who was not involved with the research, said: ‘This is exciting research that shows it’s possible to detect cervical pre-cancer that is at high risk of developing into invasive cancer in urine and vaginal samples collected by women in the comfort and privacy of their own homes.’

Robert Music, chief executive of Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust, said: ‘The findings from this research could be a game-changer.

‘It could mean those requiring treatment are identified faster and reduce the number of women having to go for potentially unnecessary investigations.

‘It is vital that further research is conducted on larger groups of women, however the findings are exciting.’

A blood test for ovarian cancer is much better than realised, scientists revealed yesterday. It was thought that only about one in 100 women with an abnormal result actually had ovarian cancer.

But a new study shows the proportion is actually one in ten patients, and one in seven for those aged 50 and older.

Researchers, who looked at more than 50,000 women in GP surgeries, found those who tested positive for the CA125 protein were also likely to have other cancers.

Dr Garth Funston, first author of the study from the University of Cambridge, said: ‘The CA125 test is very useful for ovarian cancer. I hope this means doctors will trust and use the test when appropriate, and that when the test is abnormal but a woman does not have ovarian cancer, doctors will also think about other cancers it might pick up.’

‘This could be a game-changer’