Proteins in the blood could signal cancer years before diagnosis

As cancer rates are increasing among young adults, new research suggests that proteins in the blood may indicate the presence of cancer more than seven years before it is diagnosed.

Using blood samples from more than 44,000 people in the UK, scientists at the University of Oxford compared the proteins of participants who were and those who were not diagnosed with cancer. Through this comparison, scientists identified 618 proteins linked to 19 types of cancer, including colon cancer, lung cancer, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and liver.

The study authors speculate that some of these proteins could be used to prevent and identify cancer much earlier and offer new treatment options.

The research revealed 107 proteins associated with cancer risk, many of which were detectable more than seven years before cancer diagnosis.

Keren Papier, Ph.D., senior nutritional epidemiologist at the University of Oxford and co-author of the study, reports: “To save more lives from cancer, we need to better understand what happens in the early stages of disease… (and) how proteins in our blood can affect our risk of cancer. We now need to study these proteins in depth to see which ones could be reliably used for prevention.

A second study, which analyzed the genetic data of 300,000 cancer patients, found the presence of 40 proteins in the blood that directly influenced the risk of developing nine types of cancer. Scientists note that changing these proteins could potentially increase or decrease a person’s chances of developing certain cancers, but this change could also cause unwanted side effects.

Mark Lawler, Chair of Translational Cancer Genomics at Queen’s University Belfast, highlights the importance of prevention: “The data is impressive: finding evidence of cancer before it manifests clinically, offers a crucial window of opportunity to treat with a greater chance of success, or even more importantly, of achieving the holy grail of preventing cancer before it even occurs.

A boon for prevention and early detection, this promising study follows research suggesting that a simple swish and spit test could lead to an early diagnosis of gastric cancer.