Researchers say “countless” lives could be saved with a blood test to quickly and easily determine if breast cancer survivors were suffering another bout of the disease.

Experts in the cutting-edge sciences of nanotechnology and the new field of epigenetics are teaming up to develop a test with the aim of diagnosing cancer while it is still tiny, instead of waiting for a lump to appear.

The same test could be used to determine if cancer had spread from the breast to other parts of the body, and the researchers hope it could ultimately be used to screen all women for breast cancer.

Professor Matt Trau from the University of Queensland said the greatest fear for many women treated for breast cancer was that it would return and spread to other parts of their bodies.

Once a woman has advanced breast cancer, their prognosis is poor.

“Rather than having to wait anxiously to see if another lump or symptoms return, we hope to develop a blood test that would tell patients early if the cancer has returned, so they can receive treatment quickly and with more likelihood of a successful outcome,” Prof Trau said.

“That alone could save countless lives.”

The ambitious project will centre on the new field of epigenetics, modifications to genes that do not change the DNA sequence.

Epigenetic changes are thought to be one mechanism for cancers to form, and certain epigenetic “signatures” have already been found in some types of prostate and cervical cancerous cells.

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