A new blood test may be able to detect lung cancer several years earlier than computed tomography (CT) and other imaging techniques, according to a study published in the July issue of the Journal of Thoracic Oncology. The test, developed by researchers at the University of Kentucky and licensed by 20/20 GeneSystems Inc. (Rockville, MD), is designed to identify five antibodies in the blood associated with lung cancer. Researchers tested the screen on 102 blood samples obtained from current or former smokers who participated in a lung-screening study at the Mayo Clinic (Rochester, MN) one to five years before they were diagnosed with lung cancer. To serve as a control, some samples were taken from people who were not diagnosed with lung cancer. The blood screen was able to predict 32 of 40 cases of cancer one to five years before the cancer was diagnosed using CT scans. The test also correctly identified 49 of 56 control samples as being noncancerous. The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health and other organizations.
Although the blood screen produced some false positives and negatives, researchers say it appears to have a lower rate of false positives than that of CT scans, which can also...