MELBOURNE — In what is being hailed as a major breakthrough for early cancer prevention, an international study co-led by Australian researchers has discovered a unique blood marker signature capable of predicting an individual’s risk of developing lung cancer more than five years before a clinical diagnosis can be made.
The study was a massive collaborative effort between the Francis Crick Institute, University College London, and the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research (WEHI) in Melbourne.
Lung cancer remains the leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. The high mortality rate is largely driven by late-stage detection; roughly 80% to 85% of cases are diagnosed only after symptoms appear and the disease has progressed significantly, drastically limiting effective treatment options.
“Figuring out who is at risk of developing cancer is the holy grail of cancer prevention medicine,” said Dr. Clare Weeden, WEHI laboratory head and co-lead author of the study.
By utilizing advanced machine learning algorithms to analyze blood plasma protein data from over 48,000 UK Biobank participants, the research team isolated a specific 14-protein blood signature. This biometric tool predicted future lung cancer diagnoses by a median of 5.6 years in advance. The finding was subsequently validated across eight international patient datasets involving more than 2,000 lung cancer cases.
Beyond simply warning patients of their future risk, the study opens the door to proactive treatment.
While experimenting on mice, the team discovered that blocking an immune molecule responsible for this lung inflammation—specifically interleukin-1 beta (IL-1β)—effectively halted early tumor progression.
The team later re-analyzed human data from a previous major medical trial (the CANTOS trial) and discovered a remarkable result: individuals who carried this high baseline 14-protein signature saw a nearly 50% reduction in lung cancer risk when treated with an IL-1β blocking drug.
Medical experts emphasize that the blood test should currently be viewed as a high-tier risk assessment tool rather than an absolute diagnostic test. If rolled out clinically, individuals flagged by the blood test would be funneled directly into highly targeted surveillance programs, receiving definitive low-dose CT scans long before traditional symptoms ever manifest.
