A breakthrough blood test to detect lung cancer is in the works. The test has the potential to diagnose lung cancer at a very early stage, a stage before the disease even shows up on X-rays. Several million lives could be saved worldwide every year, because lung cancer is the most common type of cancer.
French researchers developed the test as part of a study, and say it can distinguish lung cancer from emphysema and other lung diseases. It works by sniffing out proteins circulating in the blood produced by cancer cells. These proteins have a unique profile, and it's their protein signatures that might be spotted long before actual symptoms appear.
"The findings could help overcome a major problem with cancer diagnosis," said Dr. William Jacot, French medical oncologist and the study's principal author. Currently lung cancer is caught only in advanced stages about 75 percent of the time, and only about 16 percent of such patients survive for five years beyond diagnosis.
Jacot and his team analyzed serum samples from 170 patients; 147 of them had lung cancer, and 23 had other lung disease. Nearly 90 percent of the time, the test successfully found the protein blueprint of cancer cells. "It's still not good enough to use as a screening tool, but it's better than conventional tumor markers," Jacot said. Experts believe that the test may be an everyday medical reality in five to ten years.
Gilahunter
