Test breakthrough in cervical cancer fight

IRISH scientists have developed a new test which can save lives by more accurate identification of women at risk of developing cervical cancer.

They are hoping to get funding to carry out further research into the disease, which kills dozens of Irish women every year.

The research team at Trinity College Dublin, led by pathology professor John O’Leary, has identified a number of genetic abnormalities in cervical smears which can be factors in the onset of the cancer.

The combination of these can allow testers to tell whether the woman is at a high, medium or low risk of developing the disease.

The existing screening procedure for cervical cancer has barely been updated since the 1940s.

It has been found to be inaccurate in 5% to 20% of tests, where women who had signs of cervical cancer were given the all-clear.

The new test has already been used on hundreds of smears screened at St James’s Hospital and the Coombe Women’s Hospital in Dublin.

But research team member Dr Orla Sheils, a lecturer in molecular pathology at TCD, said they hope to carry out long-term work with between 1,500 and 2,000 women.

“By testing them regularly over three to five years we can measure the true effectiveness of our test.

“We have applied for funding and hopefully we will be able to do further work,” she said.

The five years of research has been funded by the Irish Cancer Society, Royal City of Dublin Hospital Trust and the Health Research Board, which is due to publish the work today.

Dr Sheils said the early detection of warning signs of cervical cancer would be helped if more women had smear tests done regularly.

“Unfortunately, it is those who are most at risk who are less likely to be tested of their own accord,” she said.

She said further research on their test might also help back up current studies on the risk factors associated with the disease.

These include smoking, the age at which a woman first had sexual intercourse, and the number of sexual partners.

The Department of Health is understood to be considering a national cervical cancer screening campaign which would target women for testing.

However, more specialist screeners would have to be trained or brought in from overseas to facilitate such a programme.

The use of risk indicators in the test developed at TCD would allow screeners to decide how often individual women needed to be tested in the future.

Despite the importance of the developments, Professor O’Leary’s team have decided not to patent the test.

The details are available in published studies but it is possible a biotechnology company might decide to use it in a testing kit for screeners.