The holy grail in cancer detection is a test, or “biomarker,” that can be acquired from patients with minimal invasiveness but that tells doctors whether cancer is present or not with high accuracy and precision. This week, researchers at the University of Bradford in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, reported on a new blood test that may allow cancer medicine to take a large step toward this goal.

The researchers call their test the Lymphocyte Genome Sensitivity test. The test examines the DNA of white blood cells for damage after exposure of the cells to ultraviolet light. White blood cells from patients with cancer exhibit damage patterns that are different from those of cells from patients with no cancers.

The test may one day allow doctors to discern between patients with certain cancer-like symptoms but who do not have cancer or precancerous lesions from those who do. Accurate screening for cancer will help identify who needs treatment and who does not, reducing unnecessary medical procedures and costs.

“These are early results completed on three different types of cancer and we accept that more research needs to be done,” explained Professor Diana Anderson, co-author of the report. “But these results so far are remarkable.”

The study was small by epidemiological standards, but the sensitivity and specificity of the test to correctly identify three types of cancer, melanoma, colon, and lung cancer, were both almost 100 percent.

“Whilst the numbers of people we tested are, in epidemiological terms, quite small, in molecular epidemiological terms, the results are powerful,” Anderson added.

The report was published this week in The Journal of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology.