NEW SMEAR TEST COULD SOLVE SCREENING PROBLEMS
crc.org.uk
08/12/1998
For Immediate Release
SCIENTISTS from The Cancer Research Campaign have developed a
revolutionary new smear test which could end the scandals that
have plagued the cervical cancer screening programme.
The test, which has been pioneered by scientists at the University of Cambridge, is the first to find a new way of diagnosing suspect smears which could dramatically reduce the current error rate, save thousands of lives and the NHS millions of pounds.
The test, details of which are published* tomorrow (Dec 8), works by
using antibodies which home in on any abnormal cells in a conventional smear test.
A fluorescent or coloured dye is then used to highlight these
antibodies so that the abnormal cells stand out and experts can identify them more easily.
The conventional smear test, called the Pap test, is the most
successful public health cancer screening measure in the world.
Nevertheless, it wrongly gives the all-clear in around 10-30 per cent of cases, some of which could have serious consequences.
But, in early trials, this new system - nicknamed the Campaign Test -
has proved 100 per cent efficient at detecting abnormal cervical cells in smears.
Experts believe the Campaign Test could be combined with the Pap test
to vastly improve cervical screening programmes worldwide. Large
scale patient trials, using the Campaign Test and the Pap test, are
expected to start in the USA within the next 18 months. If these
prove successful, the new test should be available in the UK and worldwide three years later.
“Spotting a handful of abnormal cells out of up to 300,000 healthy
ones in a cervical smear can be extremely difficult,” says the
Director General of The Cancer Research Campaign, Prof Gordon McVie.
“This discovery is amazing because it effectively makes any suspect
cells stand out from the crowd. If large-scale trials proves
successful, I believe it could be an ideal solution to the mistaken cervical smear diagnoses which we have sadly all heard so much about.
“In the short-term, we hope it could be used in addition to normal
screening procedures to improve human assessment of cervical smears.
“In the future, the Campaign test could be easily automated so that
only suspect cervical smears would be scrutinised by the human eye.
This could also save the cervical screening programme millions of
pounds in reduced manpower costs,” Prof McVie adds.
The NHS cervical screening programme currently carries out more than
4.5 million smears in the UK every year and saves up to 4,000 lives
annually.
The Campaign Test, which was developed by Dr Gareth Williams, Dr
Nick Coleman and Prof Ron Laskey, works by using antibodies which
home in on protein molecules called Cdc6 and Mcm5.
These molecules, which were only recently discovered, regulate DNA
replication and are only present in cells which have the potential to
replicate; cells taken in a normal cervical smear should not be
dividing so their presence in a smear indicates abnormalities.
“Preliminary results using the Campaign Test look extremely promising
and we are hoping that large scale patient trials will confirm these
findings,” says lead author, Dr Gareth Williams.
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Cancer Research Campaign Technology (CRCT)** has signed a deal
with a US company in California to ensure further testing and
development of the Campaign Test.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
* Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Vol 95,
Issue no 25 pp14932-14937
**CRCT is the technology transfer subsidary of the Cancer Research
Campaign.
For media inquiries contact the Cancer Research Campaign press office
on 0171 487 3768.
Notes to Editors:
The researchers did a blinded trial on 58 cervical smears and
compared the findings of the Campaign Test with conventional
diagnostic methods ie the Pap test and/or a cervical biopsy.
Importantly, even in this small sample, the Campaign Test found
abnormalities in three smears which had been diagnosed as normal by the conventional Pap test. The three problem cases, which were
misdiagnosed by the Pap test, were then re-examined and shown to have
low grade abnormalities on the smear. On further investigation of the
patients by biopsy, high grade abnormalities were found in all three
cases.
This blinded trial, described above, followed a pilot study in which the Campaign Test correctly assessed more than 50 samples of cervical
biopsy tissue. |
