A ROUTINE smear test could soon be used to tell whether women are at risk of developing breast cancer.
The test could be incorportated into the NHS smear test in as little as five years [GETTY]British researchers who made the breakthrough say it could revolutionise the treatment of breast cancer and save millions of lives by identifying who is at risk years before the disease develops.
It could also reassure others that they are unlikely ever to suffer from the disease.
Doctors hope the new test could be incorporated into the NHS cervical smear testing programme in as little as five years’ time.
Actress Angelina Jolie decided to have her breasts removed after discovering she carries a faulty gene responsible for 10 per cent of breast cancers. Now scientists at University College London have discovered that patients whose cancer is not hereditary also carry the same genetic marker in their blood.
Professor Martin Widschwendter, head of the Department of Women’s Cancer at UCL, said: “We identified a signature in women with a mutated BRCA1 gene that was linked to increased cancer risk and lower survival rates.
“Surprisingly, we found the same signature in large cohorts of women without the BRCA1 mutation and it was able to predict breast cancer risk several years before diagnosis.”
We would be able to predict breast cancer risk using these signatures as part of your smear test. It is very exciting
Professor Widschwendter said blood was not the best source for a test because the disease usually starts in skin cells.
Instead doctors hope to use cells from a smear test normally used to diagnose cervical cancer. He added: “We would be able to predict breast cancer risk using these signatures as part of your smear test. It is very exciting.
“There is no data yet to indicate that this is what it will lead to but we have got a lot of reason to believe that this will change the world of women’s cancer. At the moment it is just hope and speculation.”
The research, published in the journal Genome Medicine, found the DNA signature in the blood of women who developed non-hereditary cancers was the same as those with the genetic mutation.
The signature may be responsible for switching off genes in immune cells, stopping them from preventing breast cancer developing.
Professor Widschwendter said: “We are working to see if it can be done with such accuracy to allow us to predict five to 10 years in advance whether someone will develop breast cancer or not.
“We want to potentially predict disease which is not easy to treat and would benefit from preventative measures many years in advance.”
Dr Matthew Lam, senior research officer at Breakthrough Breast Cancer, said: “These results are definitely promising.
“If a woman does have this signature, she could work with her doctor to explore the options available. These could include lifestyle changes, tailored breast screening, risk-reducing drugs or surgery.”
Dr Kat Arney, of Cancer Research UK, said: “Looking at changes in the ‘tags’ on DNA in blood cells taken from people before they develop cancer is an exciting area of breast cancer research.
“This new study shows that these tags, originally found in people with a faulty BRCA1 gene, might also reveal the chances of developing breast cancer in the wider population too.
“It’s an intriguing finding but we need to understand much more about how these changes influence breast cancer risk before this knowledge can be turned into a screening test.”
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