Lung cancer screening is designed to find cancer before symptoms appear. Lung cancer is often more difficult to treat once it has reached a later stage. For people at higher risk, screening can help detect disease earlier and support faster clinical decisions.
The main recommended screening method is low-dose CT. This is a specialised scan that uses a lower amount of radiation than a standard CT scan. It is currently recommended each year for adults aged 50 to 80 who have a 20 pack-year smoking history and who either still smoke or have quit within the past 15 years.
A pack-year is a way of measuring smoking exposure. One pack-year means smoking one pack of cigarettes a day for one year. A person could reach 20 pack-years by smoking one pack a day for 20 years, or two packs a day for 10 years.
Smoking remains the leading risk factor for lung cancer, but it is not the only one. Some people who have never smoked can still develop the disease. Risk can also be increased by exposure to radon, asbestos, other carcinogens, long-term air pollution, wildfire smoke and certain workplace hazards. Family history and chronic lung disease may also raise risk.
This creates an important issue for healthcare providers. Current screening criteria identify many higher-risk people, but not everyone who may benefit from closer assessment fits neatly into those categories. A person with significant environmental or occupational exposure, for example, may still have reason to discuss lung cancer risk with a healthcare professional.
Cizzle Bio is developing its CIZ1B blood test to support earlier lung cancer detection. The test is designed to identify a tumour-associated protein linked to early-stage lung cancer. It is intended to be minimally invasive and to provide additional information that may help guide clinical decision-making.
The CIZ1B test is being developed as a complementary tool that could sit alongside existing methods. Lung cancer detection often depends on combining risk assessment, imaging, symptoms, medical history and further diagnostic investigation where needed.
For patients, the potential value is straightforward. A blood test that helps identify signs linked to early lung cancer could support earlier conversations with clinicians and may help determine whether further testing is appropriate. For healthcare systems, a complementary blood-based approach could add another layer of information within screening and referral pathways.
Cizzle Biotechnology Holdings plc (LON:CIZ) is a pioneering cancer diagnostics company, originally a spin-out from the University of York, and now listed on the London Stock Exchange.
