Early warning New breast cancer test

A new blood test can detect breast cancer up to five years before a lump or other symptoms appear, according to the results of a trial that could lead to a breakthrough saving thousands of lives a year.

Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer in the UK. One in eight women will be diagnosed with the disease, with 80 per cent occurring in women over the age of 50. Men can also be affected.

Rather than hunting for tumours, a person’s blood is screened to see if it contains the autoantibodies which signal that a tumour exists.

In the study by Nottingham University, researchers took blood samples from 180 patients. Half had breast cancer, half did not. The scientists were able to spot breast cancer in 37 per cent of the women who had the disease by identifying these autoantibodies in the blood.

A larger trial involving another 800 patients is planned, according to scientists at Nottingham, who will unveil details today in Glasgow at the National

Cancer Research Institute (NCRI) conference, one of the world’s largest forums for showcasing cancer advances.

The research paper by Daniyah Alfattani, from Nottingham University, and her colleagues said the autoantibodies ‘‘can be detected up to five years before the tumour is overt clinically’’.

The blood test would give doctors the opportunity to monitor women more closely, which means treatment could start sooner, giving them the best possible chance of survival. More than 11,000 women in the UK die from breast cancer each year.

Kotryna Temcinaite, from Breast Cancer Now, the research and care charity, who was not involved in the development of the pioneering test, described it as ‘‘exciting’’ and ‘‘really promising’’. With a fully funded development programme, the test could become widely available within five years.

At the moment, mammographic screening, where x-ray images are taken, is the most common method of detecting an early lesion. The new blood test would prove cheaper and easier than screening.

David Crosby, head of early detection at the Cancer Research UK charity, said: ‘‘Diagnosing cancer at the earliest stages before it grows or spreads gives patients the best chance that their treatment will be successful. So the potential to detect markers in the blood before other signs appear is promising.’’

Iain Frame, chief executive of the NCRI, said the trial’s results were ‘‘promising’’.

– Sunday Times

‘‘Diagnosing cancer at the earliest stages before it grows or spreads gives patients the best chance that their treatment will be successful. So the potential to detect markers in the blood before other signs appear is promising.’’ David Crosby, Cancer Research UK