Early signs of smoking-induced cancer ‘can be detected via cheek swabs’

Cheek swabs could be used as a simple means of detecting smoking-induced cancer, according to a new study.

The University College London report analysed buccal samples from 790 women, all born in 1946, and 152 matched blood samples from the Medical Research Council National Survey of Health and Development.

Cells from women who had smoked showed numerous changes to their epigenomes and a 40-fold increase in abnormal methylation sites compared to matched blood samples, making them a more reliable indicator of DNA changes.

With this method, the team was able to discriminate between normal and cancerous tissue with almost 100 percent sensitivity and specificity, irrespective of the organ from which the cancer arose.

This could be an important development, since buccal cells taken from cheek swabs are easy to collect and are directly exposed to cigarette smoke.

Lead author Andrew Teschendorff said: "This research gets us closer to understanding the very first steps in carcinogenesis and in future may provide us with much-needed tests for risk prediction and early detection."