A blood test evaluating several biomarkers was able to reduce the number of lung cancers detected at later stages, according to study results presented at the 2019 World Conference on Lung Cancer.

Researchers randomized 12,215 asymptomatic yet high-risk participants to either receive the EarlyCDT lung test (n = 6,088) or standard care (n = 6,121). The test looks for seven antigens: p53, NY-ESO-1, CAGE, GBU4-5, SOX2, HuD, and MAGE A4. Patients who had a positive test result went on to receive additional computed tomography screening at baseline and every six months for two years. The EarlyCDT test identified 598 patients who continued through follow-up.

At two years, among all the patients who received the test, regardless of a positive or negative result, only 33 lung cancers (58.9%) were diagnosed at late stages. Comparatively, 52 late-stage cancers (73.2%) were found in the standard care patients. Researchers reported the test’s specificity at 90.4%, sensitivity for all stages at 32.7%, and sensitivity for early stages at 52.2%.

The researchers are planning additional studies to determine the test’s impact on all-cause and lung cancer mortality.