Proteins in blood could provide early cancer warning ‘by more than seven years’

The study found 107 proteins associated with cancers diagnosed more than seven years after the patient’s blood sample was collected. Photograph: Simon Dawson/PA

Proteins in the blood could warn people of cancer more than seven years before it is diagnosed, according to research.

Scientists at the University of Oxford studied blood samples from more than 44,000 people in the UK Biobank, including over 4,900 people who subsequently had a cancer diagnosis.