Simple blood test that could spot deadly lung cancer is saving lives by detecting disease years before symptoms show

Taking on a vigorous hill walk with her husband, or playing with her two lively grandchildren, Rebecca Allison had never felt better.

The birth of Nathan, now eight, and Caitlin, six, had given Rebecca — a smoker for more than 50 years — the incentive she needed to quit her 30-a-day habit four years ago. She felt so well that when her GP asked her if she’d like to take a revolutionary blood test that could detect lung cancer years before symptoms appear, she didn’t think twice.

But two days later, the mother-of-two was called to say she had the disease. ‘I was shocked,’ says Rebecca, 69, who lives in Glasgow. ‘After sharing a few tears with my husband, Ben, we decided not to tell our kids until we needed to. I vowed to take life one day at a time.’

Rebecca Allison, 69, received a revolutionary blood test that detected her lung cancer
Shirley Dolan, 63, was the first patient to be tested, diagnosed and cured using the EarlyCDT-Lung test

Rebecca Allison (left), 69, and Shirley Dolan, 63, were both recipients of a revolutionary blood test that detected their lung cancer

It was the start of a two-year roller-coaster of emotions for Rebecca, as the next day an X-ray showed that her lungs were actually clear of the disease. ‘I felt relieved, lucky even,’ she says. ‘But I kept thinking, why was my blood test positive for cancer? It niggled away at me.’

Rebecca was one of more than 12,000 smokers to take part in a trial of a test that can detect lung cancer up to four years before tumours show up on scans — all from a few drops of blood.

Around 47,000 Britons are diagnosed with lung cancer every year, making it the most common form of the disease. And, with 35,300 deaths a year — almost 100 a day — it kills more people than any other cancer.

Most common in smokers, it is usually symptomless in the early stages. As a result, 80 per cent of cases are not picked up until late in the disease, when it’s harder to treat.

Fewer than 5 per cent of patients survive for five years or more if their cancer isn’t picked up until it is very advanced, compared with 57 per cent when it is detected early.

The new test aims to change this by checking samples of blood for seven antibodies — proteins that are made by the immune system to defend the body against the cancer.

The new blood test checks samples of blood for seven antibodies — proteins that are made by the immune system to defend the body against the cancer (stock image)

The new blood test checks samples of blood for seven antibodies — proteins that are made by the immune system to defend the body against the cancer (stock image)

Crucially, these antibodies are often present when the cancer has just begun to grow and is years away from causing symptoms or showing up in a scan. A lung cancer tumour needs to measure around 8mm to be detected on a scan or X-ray.

Rebecca and other trial volunteers had a blood test, called an EarlyCDT-Lung test — and if this proved positive, they underwent X-rays and CT scans every six months.

Following her positive result, Rebecca, a care-home manager, had three scans all showing her lungs were clear, until the fourth — 20 months after the blood test — yielded a positive result.

‘I was anxious before each scan, then relieved. But my luck ran out in October 2017 when a 5cm tumour showed up in my upper left lung. I knew I had to deal with it.’

Rebecca (pictured) underwent keyhole surgery to remove the tumour, but did not need chemotherapy or radiotherapy. She now has scans every six months

Rebecca (pictured) underwent keyhole surgery to remove the tumour, but did not need chemotherapy or radiotherapy. She now has scans every six months

She broke the news to her children — Victoria, 40, and Andrew, 38 — just before her operation the following month, determined not to show her concern.

‘I secretly feared I would not live to enjoy Christmas with my family. But the doctors told me the cancer was at an early stage and I had a good chance of coming through it all.’

Rebecca underwent keyhole surgery to remove the tumour, but did not need chemotherapy or radiotherapy. She now has scans every six months.

‘I’ve been lucky. Without the trial, I would be dead. This test is a life saver,’ she says.

Dr Adam Hill prefers to call it a game changer. He is chief executive of Oncimmune, the blood test diagnosis company that developed the EarlyCDT-Lung test, currently used in 24 countries including the U.S.

Worldwide tests have shown it can detect lung cancer up to four years before the tumours become visible in scans.

‘Studies show 40 per cent of lung cancers are diagnosed in A&E when patients attend, a common symptom being coughing up blood,’ explains Dr Hill.

Although the EarlyCDT-Lung test checks only for lung cancer, the same technology also underpins a test for liver cancer, launched in 2018. Tests for breast, ovarian and prostate cancers are in development.

Of the 60 volunteers in the blood test trial who then went on to develop lung cancer within two years, more than 40 per cent were diagnosed at stage one and two, compared with only 27 per cent in standard clinical practice (stock image)

Of the 60 volunteers in the blood test trial who then went on to develop lung cancer within two years, more than 40 per cent were diagnosed at stage one and two, compared with only 27 per cent in standard clinical practice (stock image)

Results of the pinprick blood test are available within four hours and cost less than £200 per person privately. Oncimmune claims it can detect all types of lung cancer at all stages with high accuracy.

Rebecca was part of a trial that targeted people aged 50 and over in Scotland, who had smoked more than a packet of cigarettes a day for 20 years or more, as they are statistically more at risk of lung cancer.

Of the 60 volunteers in the trial who then went on to develop lung cancer within two years, more than 40 per cent were diagnosed at stage one and two, compared with only 27 per cent in standard clinical practice. There was also a lower death rate in this group.

Dr Hill says treating Rebecca’s early diagnosis will cost the NHS around £5,000, compared with a bill in excess of £50,000 to treat an advanced lung cancer patient with surgery, drugs and other procedures.

‘And it is so much less traumatic on the patient, as they may not have to go through gruelling chemotherapy or radiotherapy for up to a year afterwards,’ he says.

Dr Hill is now hoping to conduct UK-wide tests, involving as many as 200,000 people with a history of smoking. In the meantime, although the test is used in private hospitals across the UK, it still needs the green light from the Department of Health to be approved for NHS use.

Another grateful pioneer of the new test is 63-year-old Shirley Dolan, a mother-of-three from Dundee, the first patient to be tested, diagnosed and cured using the EarlyCDT-Lung test.

The former nurse smoked up to 30 cigarettes a day from her teens to just hours before undergoing surgery for lung cancer in March 2014. It was diagnosed when she had the test after her GP suggested it as part of a trial.

Shirley had surgery but needed no further treatment

Shirley had surgery but needed no further treatment

‘I couldn’t believe it as I did not have a single symptom, yet an X-ray confirmed I had two tumours in my top right lung, though one was thankfully benign. The cancerous one was between 3cm to 5cm long.’

Shirley had surgery but needed no further treatment. ‘I’ve never touched a cigarette since,’ she says. ‘I’ve been lucky enough to get a second chance at life.’

Sadly, when Shirley returned to work at the hospital after her operation, she learned that one of her fellow theatre nurses had been diagnosed with lung cancer while she was away and had died. She, too, had not displayed any symptoms, but her lung cancer was already at a late stage when detected.

Dr Richard Roope, a senior clinical adviser on the prevention and early diagnosis of cancer for Cancer Research UK, cautiously welcomes the EarlyCDT-Lung test. ‘It has the potential to be exciting, but more research is needed to decide who we should be testing,’ he says. ‘We are at the beginning of changes in how we look for cancer that will lead to more diagnostic options.

‘The UK has been the sick man of Europe in the lung cancer survival leagues, so any development that can improve detection is a good thing.’

Before surgery, Rebecca had wrapped her family’s Christmas presents as she feared she might not see Christmas Day, but on December 23, 2017, she was given the best gift anyone could receive — the all-clear. ‘That’s when I cried,’ she says.

Like many who took part in the trial, she is — in all senses — breathing easier today.

  • Extra time — Portraits of Hope and Survival from Early Cancer Detection, extratime.gallery