Blood test helps predict who might benefit from lung cancer screening

A blood test, combined with a risk model based on a person's history, more accurately determines who is likely to benefit from lung cancer screening than current U.

An individualized lung cancer risk assessment, combining blood testing based on a four-marker protein panel developed by MD Anderson and an independent model accounting for smoking history (PLCOm2012), is more robust than the 2021 and 2013 U.

"We recognize that a small percentage of people who qualify for lung cancer screening with annual low-dose CT scans actually do get screened

The United States Prevention Task Force (USPSTF) recommends annual low-dose CT scans for people at high risk of lung cancer, which the 2011 National Lung Screening Trial (NLST) showed could reduce lung cancer mortality

Hanash and his colleagues developed a blood test that combined biomarkers they had previously identified for predicting lung cancer risk

"When we started doing blood tests, there were many different types of markers," Hanash said

To test the binding of blood markers to the PLCOm2012 model, the researchers analyzed more than 10,000 biological samples from the PLCO study, including 1,299 blood samples from 552 lung cancer patients and 8,709 from 2,193 non-lung cancer patients.

In individuals with at least 10 pack-year smoking history, blood tests incorporating the PLCOm2012 model showed overall improved sensitivity (88.

"Blood tests that identify who could benefit from lung cancer screening are not eligible right now," Hanash said

While blood tests could be implemented as a laboratory-developed test in the near future, approval by the U.