For National Science and Engineering Week , we are celebrating 10 great scientific advances made at the University of Liverpool. Over the 10 days of the event, we will be highlighting a different research discovery each day to show what science can achieve.
Our second research project in the series looks at how lung cancer detection can be improved.
Most people are aware that smoking increases your chances of getting lung cancer, but there are other risk factors that can be more difficult to anticipate. In 2007 researchers at the University created a model that can be used to predict the risk of any person developing lung cancer within a five-year period.
This didn’t just take into account smoking, but also a range of other factors and showed the risk of a smoker developing lung cancer in a five-year-period can be similar to that of a non-smoker who has other aggravating lifestyle factors such as a prior diagnosis of pneumonia; family history in a relative under 60; a prior diagnosis of any cancer and exposure to asbestos.
The model was made possible by the University’s Liverpool Lung Project – the largest of its kind in Europe with over 12,000 participants. The model, called the LLP Risk Model, was recently used in the UK as part of a trial looking at screening high risk individuals.
To see the other nine great advances, visit the University’s news pages during National Science and Engineering Week (14-23 March).
If you want to find out more about this area of research at the University of Liverpool, go to the Institute for Translational Medicine’s website, or visit our study pages to find out more about studying the molecular biology of cancer.
