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Two Cancer Research UK-funded studies from Oxford Population Health have discovered proteins in the blood that could warn people of cancer more than seven years before it is diagnosed.
The scientists identified 618 proteins linked to 19 types of cancer, including colon, lung, non-Hodgkin lymphoma and liver.
The proteins included 107 associated with cancers diagnosed more than seven years after the patient’s blood sample was collected, and 182 that were associated with a cancer diagnosis within three years.
The team discovered that these proteins could be involved at the very earliest stages of cancer, where it could be prevented and believed that some of the proteins could be used to detect cancer much earlier than is currently possible.
According to them, in the future, this could help treat the disease at a much earlier stage or prevent it altogether.
In the first study, scientists studied blood samples from more than 44,000 people in the UK Biobank, including over 4,900 people who subsequently had a cancer diagnosis
Using proteomics, the team analysed a set of 1,463 proteins from a single sample of blood from each person. They compared the proteins of people who did and did not go on to be diagnosed with cancer to look for important differences between them and to find out which ones were linked to cancer risk.
The scientists also identified 182 proteins that differed in the blood three years before a cancer diagnosis took place.
In the second study, the scientists looked at genetic data from over 300,000 cancer cases to find which blood proteins were involved in cancer development and could be targeted by new treatments.
They found 40 proteins in the blood that influenced someone’s risk of getting nine different types of cancer and concluded that some of these proteins could be used to detect cancer much earlier and potentially provide new treatment options.
The scientists, however, cautioned that further research is needed to validate findings.
Senior author of both studies, Ruth Travis said to be able to prevent cancer, there needs to be an understanding of the factors driving the earliest stages of its development.
She added, “These studies are important because they provide many new clues about the causes and biology of multiple cancers, including insights into what’s happening years before a cancer is diagnosed.
“We now have technology that can look at thousands of proteins across thousands of cancer cases, identifying which proteins have a role in the development of specific cancers, and which might have effects that are common to multiple cancer types.”
Senior Nutritional Epidemiologist at Oxford Population Health and joint first author of the first study, Dr Keren Papier, said to save more lives from cancer, there is a need to better understand what happens at the earliest stages of the disease.
She added, “Data from thousands of people with cancer has revealed really exciting insights into how the proteins in our blood can affect our risk of cancer. Now we need to study these proteins in depth to see which ones could be reliably used for prevention.”
Senior Genomic Epidemiologist at Oxford Population Health and joint first author of the first study, Dr Joshua Atkins said,” The genes we are born with, and the proteins made from them, are hugely influential in how cancer starts and grows.
“Thanks to the thousands of people who gave blood samples to UK BioBank, we are building a much more comprehensive picture of how genes influence cancer development over many years.
Also, a Senior Molecular Epidemiologist at Oxford Population Health and a senior author of the first paper and first author of the second study, Dr Karl Smith-Byrne said they have been able to predict how the body might respond to drugs that target specific proteins, including many potential side-effects.
“Before any clinical trials take place, we have some early indications of which proteins we might avoid targeting because of unintended side effects.
“This research brings us closer to being able to prevent cancer with targeted drugs – once thought impossible but now much more attainable,” he stated.
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