researchers develop first blood test to detect spread of lung cancer

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http://www.umm.edu/news/releases/bdtest.html

 

UM researchers develop first blood test to detect spread of lung cancer

 

University of Maryland School of Medicine researchers are the first to

successfully use a simple blood test to indicate the presence of an enzyme

that signals the growth or recurrence of lung cancer. The test eventually

could become part of a routine screening for early detection of other types

of cancer.

 

The blood test detects the enzyme telomerase (tehl-AH'-meh-race), a

substance associated with the uncontrolled growth of tumors. When the enzyme

levels are high, they act as a marker for tumors that are growing in size or

spreading through the body. Scientists already have been able to measure

enzyme activity by examining tumor tissue taken during a surgical biopsy,

but University of Maryland researchers are now able to measure telomerase

through a blood test.

 

" Our research shows that when tumors are in remission, telomerase levels in

the blood decline, and when telomerase rises, the cancer may be growing or

spreading, " says University of Maryland Greenebaum Cancer Center lung cancer

specialist Austin Doyle, M.D., a professor of medicine at the University of

Maryland School of Medicine.

 

" Right now, we are using the blood test for patients with known lung cancer

because this can be a difficult cancer in which to diagnose recurrence, " Dr.

Doyle says, adding that in the future, people with a genetic or

environmental predisposition to cancer might be routinely tested. It may

also be used one day as a screening test during routine physical exams.

 

" There are about 170,000 new cases of lung cancer every year, and early

detection is the key to the most successful treatment. " Dr. Doyle says. " We

hope that one day this blood test will replace the need for a lung biopsy to

tell whether the disease has returned or has spread. "

 

The research team, which patented the unique test, was led by Judith

Stamberg, Ph.D., associate professor of genetics and pathology and William

Highsmith, Ph.D, assistant professor of pathology; and includes Dr. Doyle

and Jeffrey Strovel, Ph.D. They presented their preliminary findings earlier

this year at a meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

 

" This is the first report that telomerase activity in cancer patients can be

detected in blood, and it opens the way for the use of telomerase as a

simple, minimally invasive blood test for lung cancer, " says Dr. Stamberg.

 

The team tested 20 lung cancer patients and found that all six patients who

had a marked increase in blood telomerase activity also had active,

advancing disease, while 13 of the 14 who had no detected blood telomerase

activity were in remission.

 

" It is our hope that this blood test might be used as a screening test for a

variety of cancers, just as mammograms are used for early detection of

breast cancer and the PSA test is used to detect prostate cancer, " Dr. Doyle

says. After lung cancer, Dr. Doyle says the team hopes to examine telomerase

enzyme elevations in breast, colon and other common cancers.

 

" If we are able to detect telomerase in the blood of patients with small

tumors in the lung, then this could be a good potential screening device for

other cancers, " says Dr. Stamberg, noting that the blood test could

potentially detect 90 percent to 95 percent of tumors. " Since this will be

inexpensive and easy for people to get, we might be able to save thousands

of lives a year. "

 

The University of Maryland Greenebaum Cancer Center is an internationally

recognized leader in cancer research and therapy with an integrated,

multidisciplinary approach to care. A priority of the Cancer Center is its

emphasis on the translation of research into clinical care.

 

Located in downtown Baltimore, the Cancer Center is named after real estate

developer Stewart Greenebaum, former chairman of the University of Maryland

Medical System Board of Directors, and his wife, Marlene, a breast cancer

survivor who is a volunteer in the Center. The Greenebaum Cancer Center will

receive $15 million a year over the next 10 years from the state of Maryland

from proceeds of the settlement with the tobacco industry to increase cancer

research and early detection.

 

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