Scientists search for clues to how cancer ‘is born’

Cancer Research UK has teamed up with British and American scientists to search for the earliest signs of cancer in an effort to detect and treat the disease before it emerges.

The new International Alliance for Cancer Early Detection, which has come together to share ideas, technology and expertise in this area, says that working together on the early detection of cancer will mean patients benefitting more quickly.

The scientists are aiming to develop less invasive tests, such as breath, blood and urine tests, to monitor high-risk patients, look for otherwise undetectable signs of the disease, and improve imaging techniques for detecting cancer early. However, they do admit that this could be 30 years off and is “like looking for a needle in a haystack”.

Dr David Crosby, Cancer Research UK’s head of early detection research, said “The fundamental problem is that we never get to see a cancer being born in a human being. By the time it’s found, it’s already established.”

As part of the alliance, researchers from Manchester University are growing human breast tissue with synthetic immune cells in an attempt to identify the very earliest, subtle changes that could lead to cancer.

Professor Rob Bristow of the university, said it was akin to a “living tissue bank outside patients”.

However, as not all early cell changes evolve into cancers, there is always the danger of over-diagnosis. The cancer researchers therefore say they must be more precise, also researching the genes people are born with and the environment they grow up in, to work out a person’s unique personal risk of different cancers.

Dr Crosby said the alliance would “induce a sea-change in our health systems, shifting it from expensive firefighting of late-stage disease, to being able to intervene at its earliest point and deliver rapid, cost-effective treatment.”

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