Scientists invent blood test that predicts cancer years before symptoms show

Small shifts in two proteins that doctors usually watch for silent heart damage might also warn of cancer years before symptoms start.

A UCLA‑led team found that people with slightly higher blood levels of high‑sensitivity cardiac troponin T and N‑terminal pro‑B‑type natriuretic peptide faced more cancers over nearly 18 years.

“These biomarkers are already well‑known indicators of cardiovascular risk, but our findings suggest their predictive power may reach well beyond heart disease,” explained Dr. Xinjiang Cai of UCLA Health who led the analysis. 

Heart stress and cancer biology

The idea is not entirely surprising, because cardiac biomarkers sit at the crossroads of inflammation, metabolism, and vascular stress, the same biological corridors where many tumors begin.

High‑sensitivity cardiac troponin T signals tiny leaks of protein from distressed heart muscle, while N‑terminal pro‑B‑type natriuretic peptide rises when the heart stretches under pressure.

Both markers also climb with age, smoking, diabetes, and obesity, well‑known hazards for cancer and heart disease.

That overlap led several groups to ask whether one prick of blood could reveal danger in two organs at once.

Inflammatory cells release cytokines that damage heart tissue and help tumors gather blood supply, so a marker that senses one process naturally flags the other.

Early signs of cancer in the blood

The Multi‑Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis followed 6,244 adults from six U.S. cities for a median 17.8 years.

Participants entered the study free of diagnosed heart disease or cancer, yet those with troponin levels above 8.8 nanograms per liter developed roughly three times more cancers than peers whose values sat below the lab’s detection limit.

People whose NT‑proBNP readings exceeded 102.9 nanograms per liter showed double the cancer incidence compared with participants in the lowest quartile.

Elevated troponin and NT‑proBNP each tracked most strongly with colorectal tumors, while NT‑proBNP alone pointed to future lung cancers, echoing hospital studies that link the peptide to advanced lung lesions.

Among 820 cancer cases recorded, prostate tumors ranked first overall, but the troponin and natriuretic signals did not predict breast or prostate cancer, underscoring organ‑specific biology.

Mixed results on cancer prediction

Earlier population studies laid some of the groundwork but painted a mixed picture. The Dutch PREVEND trial connected both biomarkers with later cancer, whereas a combined analysis with the Framingham Heart Study found only natriuretic peptides mattered.

MESA’s multiethnic design and tight lab protocols bring fresh weight, because the trends did not budge across Black, Hispanic, Asian, and White volunteers.

Even after nearly two decades of follow‑up, the link between NT‑proBNP and cancer weakened but never disappeared, hinting at complex time windows when warning signs are sharpest.

The contradiction underscores how assay choice, population age, and follow‑up time can sway results, a reminder that biomarker science thrives on replication.

Heart protein markers in cancer growth

NT‑proBNP may foreshadow lung nodules because chronic airway inflammation and vessel strain push both lungs and heart to release stress signals that spill into blood.

A clinical study found NT‑proBNP levels tracked tumor stage and spread in people newly diagnosed with lung cancer. Troponin, meanwhile, tells a different story in the colon.

Laboratory work has detected cardiac troponin genes switched on inside colorectal tumors and shown that blocking troponin T slows cancer cell growth.

Future bench studies will test whether trimming troponin expression in intestinal cells alters polyp formation in mice, a step toward causation rather than correlation.

Proteins for cancer screening

The clinical takeaway is not that everyone should add troponin and NT‑proBNP to annual physical panels tomorrow. Doctors already use these tests to judge chest pain and heart failure, yet the values vary with age and kidney function, and no cancer society has endorsed the proteins for screening.

Still, the markers could enrich risk algorithms that combine personal history, imaging, and other blood tests, much like cholesterol scores guide statin decisions.

Adding these proteins to electronic health records might also help researchers run targeted recall projects, inviting high‑risk volunteers for colonoscopy or low‑dose chest CT, while each test costs roughly 20 dollars in most U.S. labs.

Limitations and future research steps

Limitations include the use of hospital records to flag cancers, which may miss cases diagnosed only in outpatient clinics and thus dilute some associations.

Shared exposures such as tobacco use, sedentary time, and excess weight skew both markers upward, yet careful statistical work still found independent ties to cancer, hinting at deeper biology.

The study leaves open whether treating silent heart strain would lower a person’s odds of cancer, and trials that pair lifestyle coaching or blood‑pressure drugs with serial biomarker checks could answer that question.

Cai’s group is already sharing data with European cohorts to test the pattern abroad and hopes blood banks created for pandemic studies will speed replication.

Watching two familiar heart numbers may soon widen the lens and spot cancers before they take root.

The study is published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology: Advances.

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