A call has gone out for 10,000 volunteers in the UK to sign up to a four-year, international breast cancer study.
Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge is leading the UK arm of the study, which will test out a more personalised way to screen for breast cancer in the hope it can be detected sooner.
Altogether, 85,000 volunteers between the ages of 50 and 70 are being sought in six European countries and 10,000 are needed in the UK.
The trial hopes to establish if personalised risk-based screening could be more efficient and safer than the current, standard screening programmes, with fewer late-stage breast cancers diagnosed alongside fewer false positives and over-diagnoses.
So far three NHS sites are involved in the My PeBS (my personal breast screening) trial: Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (CUH), the Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust and Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust (MFT).
UK study lead Professor Fiona Gilbert, professor of radiology at University of Cambridge, honorary consultant at CUH and NIHR Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre Imaging theme lead, said: “This is an opportunity to take part in one of the largest studies so far into how we find early stage breast cancer.
“By taking a saliva sample and history from those selected on the trial, we can identify whether they are at higher or lower risk of developing breast cancer. Once we know this, we can tailor screening to their own personal needs”.
Each saliva sample from the trial is sent off for genetic testing in Paris, to check for signs of cancer risk in the DNA.
Several factors, including genetics, hormones, family history and breast density, can put some at higher risk compared to others and the MyPeBS study will randomly assign trial volunteers to follow either the standard NHS screening schedule or a personalised screening schedule, according to their risk of breast cancer.
Professor Gareth Evans, professor in medical genetics and cancer epidemiology at Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust (MFT), who is leading the Manchester arm, said: “We all carry tiny genetic variations, called single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), and our unique combination of these can either raise or lower women’s risk of developing breast cancer, when combined with traditional risk factors like family and reproductive history, our health and lifestyle, and breast density.
“With this international trial we want to test how we can safely personalise breast screening depending on women’s individual risk, with women at lower risk safely screened less often, while those at high risk more frequently.”
Professor David French, professor of health psychology at the University of Manchester, will also study how women respond to changes in screening and any psychological impact this has, to help inform future screening services.
So far, about 20,000 have joined the trial, which started in summer, and about 1,000 recruits have signed up in the UK.
Leave a Reply