Universal test for cancers may be available within 10 years

SCIENCE EDITOR A universal cancer test which could pick up dozens of different diseases before they become deadly could be widely available within 10 years.

Scientists from universities across Britain have assessed 23,000 studies published over the past five years to compile a list of 750 “biomarkers” which indicate cancer is present in the body, even if there are no symptoms.

They hope to whittle down the number to around 50, and create a single blood test which could check for not only the most common diseases such as breast, lung and bowel cancer, but also rarer conditions.

It is hoped that such a test could spot cancer early, before it has spread, and when it can be cured quickly with surgery or drugs.

“When we looked at all the papers we were quite surprised to find that nobody had yet created a test from any of the biomarkers that have, so far, been discovered,” said Professor Ian Cree, molecular pathologist at University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire.

“Our vision is that the screen will pick up even the small amounts of these biomarkers that might be in the blood at an early stage of the cancer, without necessarily identifying which cancer they relate to.

“It would be great if we could pick up 95 per cent of all cancers. But we need to make this available to the general population so it has to be accurate.”

The work was carried out on behalf of the Early Cancer Detection Consortium, a group including universities, hospitals and commercial companies and funded by Cancer Research UK.