A number of proteins in the blood can alert people to cancer more than seven years before diagnosis, two Oxford Population Health (UK) studies showed. Specifically, the scientists identified 618 proteins associated with 19 different types of cancer, including 107 proteins in a group of people who had their blood drawn at least seven years before diagnosis.
Thus, the team discovered that these proteins may be involved in the early stages of cancer when could have been prevented. They believe some of these proteins could be used to detect cancer much earlier than is currently possible. In the future, this could help treat the disease at a much earlier stage or prevent it altogether. In these studies, the team used a powerful technique called proteomics.
Proteomics allows scientists to simultaneously analyze a large set of proteins in tissue samples, see how they interact with each other, and find important differences in proteins between different tissue samples. In the first study, researchers analyzed blood samples from the UK Biobank taken from more than 44,000 people, including more than 4,900 people who were subsequently diagnosed with cancer. Using proteomics, the team analyzed a set of 1,463 proteins from one blood sample from each person.
They compared the proteins of people who had been diagnosed with cancer and those who had not, looking for important differences between them and finding out which ones were associated with cancer risk. The scientists also identified 182 proteins that were different in the blood three years before the cancer was diagnosed. In the second study, researchers analyzed genetic data from more than 300,000 cancer cases to further understand which blood proteins are involved in cancer development and could be targets for new treatments.
Scientists have discovered 40 proteins in the blood that affect a person’s risk of developing 9 different types of cancer. While changing these proteins can increase or decrease the likelihood of developing cancer, scientists have also found that in some cases it can lead to unwanted side effects. However, the team stresses that they will need to do more research to figure out the exact role these proteins play in cancer, which proteins are most reliable to test, and which tests can be developed to detect the proteins in the clinic. and what drugs can attack these proteins.
Commenting on the findings, Keren Papier, senior nutritional epidemiologist at Oxford Population Health and first author of the first study, said: “To save more lives from cancer, we need to better understand what happens in the early stages of the disease. Data from thousands of people with cancer has provided some really interesting insight into how proteins in our blood can influence our risk of developing cancer. “We now need to study these proteins further to see which ones can be reliably used for prevention.”
For his part, Joshua Atkins, senior genomic epidemiologist at Oxford Population Health and one of the first authors of the first study, adds: “The genes we are born with, and the proteins that are made from them, strongly influence how cancer develops. from people who donate blood samples to Biobank UK, we are building a much more complete picture of how genes influence cancer development over many years.
Likewise, Carl Smith-Byrne, senior molecular epidemiologist at Oxford Population Health and lead author of the first paper and first author of the second study, concludes: “We have predicted how the body might respond to drugs that target specific proteins, including many potential side effects.” . consequences. Before we do any clinical trials, we have some initial indications of which proteins we should avoid targeting due to unwanted side effects. “This study brings us closer to the possibility of preventing cancer with targeted drugs, something previously thought impossible but now much more achievable.”