New blood test ‘can screen for eight different cancer types’

An innovative new blood test has been developed that could facilitate the detection of multiple high-priority cancer types.

Led by the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center, the research project has led to the creation of a test that can screen for eight common cancer types, which account for more than 60 percent of US cancer deaths. Five of these currently have no viable screening method.

Investigators explored several hundred genes and 40 protein markers, whittling the number down to segments of 16 genes and eight proteins to find a small yet robust panel capable of detecting at least one mutation in the vast majority of cancers.

The test was evaluated on 1,005 patients with nonmetastatic cancers of the ovary, liver, stomach, pancreas, oesophagus, colorectum, lung or breast. The median overall sensitivity was 70 percent, and ranged from a high of 98 percent for ovarian cancer to 33 percent for breast cancer.

For the five cancers that have no screening tests – ovarian, liver, stomach, pancreatic and oesophageal cancers – sensitivity ranged from 69 percent to 98 percent.

Dr Bert Vogelstein, co-director of the Ludwig Center at Johns Hopkins, said: "This test represents the next step in changing the focus of cancer research from late-stage disease to early disease, which I believe will be critical to reducing cancer deaths in the long term."

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