DNA-test to show lung cancer risk

Smokers and former smokers can now take a DNA-based test to identify whether they are genetically susceptible to getting lung cancer.

The test, developed at Auckland University, was the first in the world to provide a personalised estimate of lung cancer risk, by combining results of DNA analysis with other known risk factors for the disease (age, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and family history of lung cancer).

It was developed from research by Auckland University health and medical sciences Associate Professor Robert Young.

"All smokers face an increased risk of developing lung cancer, among a host of other serious health problems, but for some individuals the risk is much greater than for others," said Prof Young.

"With this test, doctors will be able to identify those at greatest risk while there is still time to help."

Smoking killed between 4300 and 4600 people a year in New Zealand, and Prof Young said research indicated many smokers thought that bad outcomes happened to other people, not them.

The new test would combat this by showing patients their individual susceptibility to lung cancer, and identifying higher-risk patients might also allow better monitoring for early detection of the disease.

Lung cancer was the most lethal of the common cancers - half of all patients died within one year of diagnosis and 80 per cent died within two years.

The test placed smokers into one of three categories. "Moderate risk" score meant the person had a risk of developing lung cancer about the same as an average smoker: 20 to 30 times more likely to develop lung cancer than non-smokers.

About one in 10 smokers at moderate risk would develop lung cancer.

People categorised as "high risk" were about four times more likely than an average smoker to get lung cancer, and those at "very high risk" were about 10 times more likely to get the disease.

The tests, developed by Synergenz Bioscience Ltd, would be processed in Auckland by DNA Diagnostics Ltd, both spin-offs from the university.

Prof Young would present the test at a three-day national conference for general practitioners in Rotorua, starting on June 11.

It would be offered immediately in Auckland and elsewhere in the world later in the year.

- NZPA