A major breakthrough could allow cancer to be detected seven years before current methods.
Two Cancer Research UK-funded studies have discovered proteins in the blood that could warn people of cancer more than seven years earlier than currently possible. Oxford University scientists identified 618 proteins linked to 19 different types of cancer, including 107 proteins in a group of people whose blood was collected at least seven years before diagnosis.
The research team have discovered that the proteins could be involved at the very earliest stages of cancer, where it could be prevented. They believe that some of the proteins could be used to detect cancer much earlier than is currently possible. The team say the breakthrough could help treat the disease at a much earlier stage - or even prevent it altogether.
The Oxford researchers used a powerful technique called proteomics which allows them to analyse a large set of proteins in tissue samples at a single point in time, to see how they interact with each other and find any important differences in proteins between different tissue samples.
In the first study, scientists analysed blood samples taken from more than 44,000 British people, including more than 4,900 people who were subsequently diagnosed with cancer. Using proteomics, the researchers analysed a set of 1,463 proteins from a single sample of blood from each person.
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The team compared the proteins of people who did and did not go on to be diagnosed with cancer to look for differences between them and find out which ones were linked to the risk of cancer. The researchers also identified 182 proteins that differed in the blood three years before a cancer diagnosis took place.
In the second study, the team looked at genetic data from more than 300,000 cancer cases to do a "deep dive" into 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.
While altering the proteins may increase or decrease the chances of someone developing cancer, the researchers also found that in some cases this may lead to unintended side-effects. But the team, who findings were published in the journal Nature Communications, stressed that they will need to do further research to find out the exact role the proteins play in cancer development.
They said they also need to work out which of the proteins are the most reliable ones to test for, what tests could be developed to detect the proteins and which drugs could target the proteins. Dr Keren Papier, joint first author of the first study, said: "To save more lives from cancer, we need to better understand what happens at the earliest stages of the disease.
"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."
Dr Papier, senior nutritional epidemiologist at Oxford Population Health, added: "Now we need to study these proteins in depth to see which ones could be reliably used for prevention." Joint first author of the first study Dr Joshua Atkins, Senior Genomic Epidemiologist at Oxford Population Health, 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."
Dr Karl Smith-Byrne, senior author of the first paper and first author of the second study, said: "We've predicted 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."
Dr Smith-Byrne, who is senior molecular epidemiologist at Oxford Population Health, added: "This research brings us closer to being able to prevent cancer with targeted drugs once thought impossible but now much more attainable." Senior author of both studies Professor Ruth Travis said: "To be able to prevent cancer, we need to understand the factors driving the earliest stages of its development. "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."
Prof Travis, who is senior molecular epidemiologist at Oxford Population Health, added: "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."
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Dr Iain Foulkes, executive director of research and innovation at Cancer Research UK, said: "Preventing cancer means looking out for the earliest warning signs of the disease. That means intensive, painstaking research to find the molecular signals we should pay closest attention to.
"Discoveries from this research are the crucial first step towards offering preventative therapies which is the ultimate route for giving people longer, better lives, free from the fear of cancer."
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