Using a Modified Lymphocyte Genome Sensitivity (LGS) test or TumorScan test to detect cancer at an early stage in each individual.

Our previous case-control study observed isolated lymphocytes from 208 individuals and determined the differences in the sensitivity to genomic damage of lymphocytes derived from cancer patients, pre/suspect cancer patients and healthy volunteers using the Comet assay (Anderson et al, 2014). We adapted the LGS technique using a slightly different method and examined 700 more blood samples from 598 patients with cancer or suspected cancer and 102 healthy individuals. To help increase the sensitivity of the test and detect cancer at the level of each individual, we joined with the IMSTAR team who analysed our cells with their fully automated Pathfinder™ cell reader-analyser system. With this reading and analysis system 4,000 to 10,000 cells were able to be read per slide. The new test which is called TumorScan is a highly sensitive test to detect any cancer at an early stage through the response of the white blood cells to UV treatment. These patient blood samples have also been collected at the stage before confirming diagnosis and treatment. There were four of these individuals with cancer who had received anti-cancer treatment. The results from these patients showed a reverse pattern compared to non-treated cancer patients and followed the pattern seen in healthy individuals. The results are consistent with the early results as reported in the above 2014 paper. Given the results from these samples were in a particularly challenging subgroup, whose cancer status was difficult to distinguish, the data suggest that the technique using the TumorScan system could exceed the area under the ROC curve >93% obtained in the earlier study on a group basis, whereas this present study was to detect cancer at an early stage in each individual.