Swansea University researchers develop blood test that spots cancer up to 10 years before symptoms appear

The search for more effective cancer medication continues with the recent approval by the US Food and Drug Administration of venetoclax for a subtype of chronic lymphocytic leukaemia. However, knowing one has cancer before symptoms appear would soon be possible using a blood test developed by scientists at Swansea University Medical School.

The blood test functions like a smoke detector which could spot cancer up to 10 years before the symptoms appear. It is the result of discovery by scientists that mutations happen in red blood cells before signs of cancer become evident. The test hunts for the mutations and could confirm in a few hours if cancer is present, reports The Telegraph.

The test, costing £35 (A$61.23), could be available within five years and was tried on oesophagus cancer patients. However, researchers say it should work also on other types of cancer. New trials are being done on pancreatic cancer patients.

Explaining the allusion to smoke detector, study author Professor Gareth Jenkins says, “The test can be likened to a cancer smoke detector because a smoke detector does not detect the presence of fire in our homes but its by-product – smoke.” He continues, “This test detects cancer by detecting the ‘smoke’, the mutated blood cells. The old adage of no smoke without fire also applies to ‘no cancer without mutation’ as mutation is the driving force for cancer development.”

The study, made public at the British Science Festival, had 300 health people, patients with pre-cancer and patients with the oesophageal form of cancer over the past four years as subjects, reports News.com.au.

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