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IN FUTURE, testing for some cancers could involve simply supplying a little
spit. The trick, researchers say, is detecting precancerous cells in samples of
sputum or urine.

Most human cancers originate in the sheets of cells, or epithelia, that line
the lungs, bladder, colon and other organs. Cells are constantly sloughed off
the epithelium鈥檚 outermost layer. Normally cells in this layer don鈥檛 divide. If
they do, it鈥檚 a sign that cell division has gone haywire鈥攁 crucial step in
the development of cancer.

Now Ron Laskey and his colleagues at Cambridge University have found a way to
spot these abnormal cells. His team has developed an antibody test for proteins
called MCMs, which are found only in dividing cells.

Since sloughed-off cells naturally find their way into sputum, as well as
urine and faeces, all a patient need do is give the appropriate sample. This
could make it easier to test for diseases such as lung cancer鈥攚hich is
notoriously difficult to detect early. What鈥檚 more, the antibodies can improve
on the detection rates possible with conventional screening methods. When Laskey
and his colleagues at Addenbrooke鈥檚 Hospital in Cambridge applied the MCM
antibodies to cervical smears, they identified seven patients with subtle
precancerous changes who had previously been given the all-clear. They are now
seeing how effective the method is in spotting early bladder cancer.

鈥淚 think it looks very promising,鈥� says Paul Nurse, head of the Imperial
Cancer Research Fund laboratories. 鈥淗owever, it needs to be more extensively
tested.鈥� He believes the technique will be especially helpful in diagnosing
subtle changes that appear in precancerous cells, which are very difficult to
spot with present screening tests.