BREAST CANCER BREAKTHROUGH Blood test could detect disease five years before symptoms
Force of nature
A BLOOD test that can spot breast cancer up to five years before symptoms emerge has been developed by British scientists.
The technique has been trialled with promising results, and could be available for patients in as little as four years.
It works by identifying the body’s natural defences against tiny traces of chemicals that cancer cells release into the bloodstream.
Catching the disease in the earlier stages can drastically improve patients’ chances of survival.
Researchers at the University of Nottingham’s Centre of Excellence for Autoimmunity in Cancer developed the test. They hope it will be more cost-effective and easier to implement than mammograms.
PHD student Daniyah Alfattani explained: “We need to develop and further validate this test. However, these results are encouraging and indicate it is possible to detect a signal for early breast cancer.
“Once we have improved the accuracy of the test, then it opens the possibility of using a simple blood test to improve early detection of the disease.”
The test identifies the presence of autoantibodies, which are proteins in the blood that the body generates to fight invading substances such as toxins or cancer cells, known as antigens.
Ms Alfattani said: “Our study showed breast cancer does induce autoantibodies against specific tumour- associated antigens. We were able to detect cancer with reasonable accuracy by identifying these autoantibodies in the blood.”
The team used blood samples from 90 women at the time of their diagnosis and 90 healthy people. One of their tests correctly identified 37 per cent of the cancer patients and 79 per cent of the disease-free volunteers.
Another test got 35 per cent ent of the patients and 79 per cent ent of the volunteers right.
Researchers are now w testing samples from 800 patients, which is expected to improve results.
They are also working on similar tests for or pancreatic, bowel and liver cancers, which, along with breast and liver r cancers cancers, account for 70 per cent of instances of the disease.
A test for lung cancer has been tried on 12,000 smokers in Scotland.
Participants who test positive for the autoantibodies are given a CT scan every two years, to catch the
GIANT waves pound rocks at Mumbles lighthouse near Swansea yesterday morning as storms hit the South West.
There were 80mph gusts accompanied by downpours across the region and a woman in her sixties died when a tree fell on to her car in Wimborne, Dorset. Ferries from Dover were suspended. disease quickly if it develops. Ms Alfattani said: “A blood test capable of detecting any of these cancers at an early stage is the overriding objective of our work.”
The findings were presented at a National Cancer Research Institute meeting in Glasgow. NCRI’S CEO Dr Iain Frame described them as “promising”. He add added: “Non-invasive ways of de detecting first signs of can cancer is a key strategic p priority for NCRI and s something we would all like to see working in practice.”
Dr Kotryna Temcinaite, from charity Breast Cancer Now, said the resu sults are “exciting”. She added: add “Finding ways to detect breast cancer earl-ier will be crucial if we are to stop more women dying from the disease. We now look forward to further studies to understand the full potential of this test, how it could be used once developed, and what interventions could accompany it.”
This simple test could improve early diagnosis
of cancer