Early detection generally

Developing a cancer atlas – a blueprint for early detection of cancer

Will develop simple blood tests that can detect cancer

Far too often, cancer is detected when it is too late for it to be cured. Using new and sensitive methods to analyse blood samples, researchers will now look for proteins in the blood that can reveal an incipient cancer. The aim is to develop simple and inexpensive home tests that can be used for large-scale cancer screening.

When cells in our body are transformed into cancer cells, their metabolism changes. As a result, they stop making some proteins and start making others. Some of these proteins will leak into the blood. It has been difficult to detect proteins that are associated with cancer in blood samples, but analysis methods have recently become both more sensitive and less expensive.

“We now have new types of platforms that can test 5000 different proteins in a single sample. It is absolutely revolutionary. Previously, we could only test one protein at a time,” says Beatrice Melin, professor at Umeå University.

Together with Tobias Sjöblom, a professor at Uppsala University, she will now receive funding from the Sjöberg Foundation for a flagship project. Using the new methods, Melin will search for proteins that may reveal that a tumour is forming in the body, many years before it would otherwise become apparent. Sjöblom will develop methods for identifying proteins associated with cancer in a small drop of blood that has been absorbed by a piece of paper.

Will analyse tens of thousands of blood samples

In the project, Beatrice Melin will use blood samples previously collected by researchers as part of the Västerbotten Project, which is a unique project that has followed tens of thousands of people in the Swedish region of Västerbotten for up to 30 years.

“What’s so special is that we have samples from 40, 50 and 60-year check-ups, so we can analyse samples that were taken long before a person was diagnosed with cancer,” says Melin.

She will compare samples from people who are known to have developed cancer and samples from people who have not. The hope is that statistical models and machine learning can be used to identify patterns of proteins that will predict, with a high level of confidence, that a tumour is emerging somewhere in the body.

A drop of blood on a piece of paper could reveal cancer

In Uppsala, the research team led by Sjöblom has already analysed the proteins in two thousand blood samples from people who have just received a cancer diagnosis. Using these, they have found some proteins that they believe can be used to detect cancer. To test whether this really works, Sjöblom will build up a completely new collection of samples as part of the flagship project.

“We will ask people aged over 50 to take samples at home. They put a drop of blood on a piece of paper, which we collect,” he says.

The aim is that up to 100,000 people will provide these simple blood tests annually for three years. The researchers will then see whether they can use the samples to predict which of these people will develop cancer. If this simple and inexpensive test works, Sjöblom hopes that it can be used for large-scale screening for our most common cancers.

“If we find cancer sooner, it can often be treated with surgery alone. When we detect cancer late, it has often spread and then even the most common tumours are difficult to treat. So, by detecting the cancer earlier, we can increase survival rates,” Sjöblom says.

While the researchers are working to find new ways to diagnose cancer at an early stage, the blood tests they will carry out will generate vast amounts of information that will be stored in a large database. This information can be reused by other researchers, who may be looking for proteins that could reveal other diseases. In this way, Beatrice Melin and Tobias Sjöblom’s flagship project can create ripples that spread far beyond the field of cancer

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