Blood test

'Exciting' blood test spots cancer a year early

The UK team was able to scour the blood for signs of cancer while it was just a tiny cluster of cells invisible to X-ray or CT scans.

It should allow doctors to hit the tumour earlier and increase the chances of a cure.

They also have new ideas for drugs after finding how unstable DNA fuels rampant cancer development.

The research project was on lung cancer, but the processes studied are so fundamental that they should apply across all cancer types.

Depression: New blood test could result in personalised treatment

The researchers said doctors should in future be able to direct depressed patients with a certain level of inflammation in their blood towards earlier treatment with a more potent course of anti-depressants — possibly including combining two medications — before they get worse.

"This study moves us a step closer to providing personalised anti-depressant treatment at the earliest signs of depression," said Annamaria Cattaneo, who led the work at King's College London's Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN).