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Blood test could spot prostate cancer more than a decade before diagnosis after Oxford scientists find 12 warning proteins

Oxford University researchers identified 12 proteins in blood that could detect prostate cancer more than a decade early — seven linked to its most aggressive, lethal forms.
Oxford University researchers identified 12 proteins in blood that could detect prostate cancer more than a decade early — seven linked to its most aggressive, lethal forms.

Britain has no national screening programme for a disease that claims 12,000 male lives each year — one every 45 minutes. Researchers at Oxford University followed blood samples from 2,555 men over roughly 16 years, examining more than 6,000 proteins and identifying 12 of concern. Seven of those 12 are associated with the most aggressive and lethal forms of the disease. In England, diagnoses in men under 50 have risen more than fourfold over two decades.

ANKRD1 was identified specifically in cancers that either spread or led to early death.

The immune protein GZMK points to the possibility that the body holds the disease at bay for years.

'Prostate cancer is not one disease,' said first author Dr Zhe Huang.

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