NHS to trial blood test that finds cancer early

THOUSANDS of people are to join the trial of a blood test that can detect cancer before symptoms appear.

The Galleri test, which is available in the United States, can detect cancers that are not routinely screened for, and the NHS aims to recruit 140,000 volunteers in eight areas of England to assess its potential. It can pinpoint with a high degree of accuracy where the disease is located in the body.

Diagnosing cancer early offers the best chance of treating it successfully so the test could save thousands of lives. It looks for chemical changes in fragments of genetic code – cell-free DNA – that leak from tumours into the bloodstream.

Some tumours are known to shed DNA into the blood long before people experience symptoms.

The test is not intended to replace NHS screening programmes for breast, cervical and bowel cancer. In the US, it has been recommended for people at higher risk of cancer, including the over-50s.

As part of the NHS trial, which is the world’s largest, blood samples will be taken.

Letters are being sent to people from different backgrounds and ethnicities aged between 50 and 77 asking them to take part.

Participants, who must not have had a cancer diagnosis in the past three years, will be asked to give a blood sample at a local mobile clinic and will then be invited back after 12 months and two years to give further samples.

Amanda Pritchard, chief executive of NHS England, said: “This quick and simple blood test could mark the beginning of a revolution in cancer detection and treatment here and around the world.”

The NHS trial is being led by the Cancer Research UK and King’s College London Cancer Prevention Trials Unit together with Grail, the US company that developed the Galleri test.

The first results from the study are expected by 2023. If successful, the NHS in England plans to extend the rollout to a further one million people in 2024 and 2025.