Researchers Detect Early Warning Sign for Lung Cancer

Researchers at the University of Nottingham announced October 11^th the discovery of potential early warning signs for lung cancer. The study was done in collaboration with researchers at Johannes Gutenberg University in Germany and published in the journal Thorax. According to the study, certain changes in the blood can warn of the presence of lung cancer up to five years before actually symptoms present themselves. This would allow for earlier treatment of the cancer and a higher success and survival rate.

According to the researchers at the University of Nottingham, lung cancer takes about twenty years to fully develop. Unfortunately, the disease is often first detected, when it is in advanced stages, which results in a low success rate for treatments. Worldwide, 900,000 people succumb to lung cancer each year. Thus far, over the last thirty years, there has been little progress made to improve the detection of this particular cancer at an earlier stage

The research teams from both universities took blood samples from 104 people with lung cancer and compared it to samples taken from 50 healthy volunteers. All samples were analyzed for autoantibodies, which are proteins of the immune system the body directs at its own tissues. The response of these autoantibodies to particular chemical body signals was tested with a focus specifically on certain seven autoantibodies the researchers knew are linked with so called 'solid tumors' like cancer of the lung, breast, ovaries, and prostate. They appear once the cancer starts to cause changes in the body.

Most of the lung cancer patients in the study had all of these seven autoantibodies in their system with high levels of at least one of the autoantibodies. They were also found in the majority of patients whose cancer had not yet spread to the lymph nodes and therefore elsewhere in the body, which is a stage where there is still and 80% chance of a successful treatment.

This is not the only study of autoantibodies as an early warning sign of cancer. An earlier study for example detected certain autoantibodies related to breast cancer. The study led to the development of a blood test by Oncimmune (www.oncimmune.co.uk). This test will be available in the US in 2008. Hopefully a similar test for lung cancer and other types of cancers can soon be developed as well. Such tests as part of a regular cancer-screening program could greatly add to the successful treatment of cancer and lead to a higher survival rate. If the tests indicate the presence of autoantibodies in the blood, the patient would undergo further standard testing and detailed scans to check for other signs of the presence of cancer, and to pinpoint the location and size of the cancer.