Mid-infrared spectroscopy assessment for early cancer diagnosis
Research type
Research Study
Full title
An investigation into the use of mid-infrared spectroscopy of human serum for the detection of early stage cancer in asymptomatic individuals.
IRAS ID
320217
Contact name
Graham T Reed
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Head of Research Information and Governance, University of Southampton
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
78571, ERGOII approval number
Duration of Study in the UK
3 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
Early diagnosis of cancer is essential to improve patient survival. Treatments are more likely to work when cancer is identified at an early stage, making detection of cancer as early as possible important.
An analysis technique called mid-infrared spectroscopy has the potential to detect changes in the blood that have caused cancer, sometimes even before a patient is aware of any signs of the disease. This technique has been successfully used to help identify patients with headaches at high risk of brain cancer, and it is hoped that it could be applied for used to screen patients for early signs of other cancers.
It is proposed to use our expertise in undertaking Mid-IR spectroscopy to analyse samples of blood from patients with early stage cancers, and matched controls, to detect changes indicative of early stage cancer. The aim is to ultimately develop and validate a test that can help with the diagnosis of cancers. Work will initially focus on lung cancer through use of blood samples collected alongside an established screening programme for people at high risk of developing lung cancer, as well as blood collected from patients with known early stage lung cancers. It is expected that this study will expand to include samples from patients with other types of cancers that typically present at an advanced stage and would benefit greatly from early diagnosis.
REC name
Yorkshire & The Humber - Bradford Leeds Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
23/YH/0021
Date of REC Opinion
10 Jan 2023
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion