Early Warning System for Lung Cancer Evaluated

A potential early warning system for lung cancer, based on the presence of certain autoantibodies in blood, has been investigated.

A study of blood samples from patients with different types of lung cancer and healthy control subjects identified seven autoantibodies associated with solid tumors in the lung cancer patients. The presence of these autoantibodies in blood signals the presence of lung cancer, and they can be present years before outward symptoms become apparent.

Worldwide, lung cancer kills around 900,000 people every year, and can take 20 years or more to develop fully. But it is usually only diagnosed at an advanced stage, when the chances of successful treatment are slim. Early diagnosis improves the disease's prognosis.

The study was performed by a team of investigators from Nottingham University (Nottingham, UK), in collaboration colleagues from Johannes Gutenberg University (Mayence (Mainz), Germany). They found autoantibodies in eight out of the nine patients whose cancer had not infiltrated the lymph nodes. In these cases the disease had not yet spread elsewhere and there was an 80% chance of a cure. Other investigations indicated that these autoantibodies could be picked up as early as five years before clinical symptoms start to show.

The study appeared in the October 2007 issue of the journal Thorax. The authors argued that the lungs are especially sensitive to radiation, so repeated chest X-rays are not ideal for picking up lung cancer. A blood test, on the other hand, has no side effects and is cheap relative to imaging tests. The panel can be optimized to identify more or different autoantibodies in lung and other cancers. They suggested that the blood test could be used for people at increased risk of developing the disease, such as smokers and passive smokers. If the test were positive, they could then be referred for more detailed scans, such as computed tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

In a previous study, abnormally high levels of specific autoantibodies in patients with breast cancer were discovered, indicating that a test for these could be added to the screening program and may be helpful as an aid to the diagnosis of early breast cancer, especially in individuals at risk of developing the disease. This study also demonstrated that these autoantibodies could be detected before clinical presentation.

A blood test for the early detection of breast cancer is to be released by Oncimmune (Lenexa, KS, USA), a spinout company from The University of Nottingham. It is envisaged that a test for lung cancer will follow soon after.


Related Links:
Oncimmune
Nottingham University
Johannes Gutenberg University