NHS Launches World-First Trial Using Blood Tests to Detect Early-Stage Abdominal Cancers

More than 20,000 NHS patients across 200 GP practices in England are participating in a landmark clinical trial to evaluate whether simple blood tests can detect hard-to-diagnose abdominal cancers in their earliest stages.

Led by the University of Birmingham, the government-funded STRIDE-RCT trial aims to evaluate four advanced blood testing technologies. The goal is to provide family doctors with better screening tools for patients presenting with vague abdominal symptoms such as persistent bloating, discomfort, or changes in bowel habits which are frequently mistaken for less serious health conditions.

The trial specifically focuses on detecting a broad range of cancers, including liver, ovarian, pancreatic, bowel, stomach, kidney, bladder, and prostate cancers. Abdominal cancers are notoriously difficult to identify early, often remaining undetected until they have spread to advanced stages. In England alone, around 71,000 people are diagnosed with bowel, stomach, liver, ovarian, or pancreatic cancers each year, resulting in nearly 35,000 deaths.

Patients aged 45 and over who visit participating GP practices with non-specific abdominal symptoms will be invited to provide one or two small blood samples alongside standard routine tests.

The trial is evaluating four initial diagnostic technologies:

• The Enlighten Test (Proteotype): Uses artificial intelligence to examine patterns of circulating amino acid biomarkers in human plasma to assess risks for bowel, lung, breast, or prostate cancers.
• The PinPoint Test (Pinpoint AI): Analyzes 32 distinct blood biomarkers simultaneously, combining weak cancer signals into a single score. The test delivers results to doctors using a red, amber, and green traffic-light risk system.
• The Signatera Test (Natera): Measures circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) fragments shed directly into the bloodstream by developing tumors.
• The Halo Test (Mercy BioAnalytics): Detects single extracellular vesicles, which circulate in high volumes in blood samples even during the early stages of disease.

Researchers emphasize that a positive indicator on a test does not guarantee a cancer diagnosis, nor does a negative result offer a complete all-clear; rather, the tests serve to help GPs triage patients who require prioritized hospital scans versus those who can be safely ruled out.

Health officials and cancer charities welcomed the trial as a potential shift toward faster, less invasive diagnostic pathways.

Health Minister James Frith outlined the practical impact of the trial during an interview with LBC Radio:

“This is an exciting and world-first major trial for earlier diagnoses for abdominal cancers, which are notoriously hard to spot, very often because their symptoms can be misread as something other than cancer.”

“Let’s imagine a patient presents with vague symptoms, a inflated stomach or bloating, or changes to bowel movements recently – very often, those symptoms can be misread as something else.”

“What this means is that the blood tests could help earlier diagnose and put patient on the relevant pathway, or discount it and get the peace of mind that it isn’t cancer.”

Frith noted that assessing the data to determine whether any of the four tests are suitable for a full national rollout across the NHS could take between 18 and 24 months.

Health Secretary Yvette Cooper emphasized the link between early identification and patient outcomes:

“The earlier cancers are diagnosed, the more chance they can be successfully treated, and lives can be saved. Innovations like these are a key part of our National Cancer Plan, which will provide faster diagnosis, more effective treatment, and better care for every patient, while also investing in the trials and technology that offer hope of curing cancer for good.”

Professor Peter Johnson, NHS England's national clinical director for cancer, described the initiative as part of a broader shift in diagnostic medicine:

We are at the start of revolution in cancer diagnosis, and this trial will help us to find out whether blood tests can help GPs get the right patients to the right tests sooner, supporting earlier diagnosis when treatment is most likely to be successful. It is vital that we gather the evidence about these new technologies and I am grateful to everyone taking part in this research.”

Michelle Mitchell, chief executive of Cancer Research UK, highlighted the long-standing challenge faced by primary care providers:

“GPs have long needed better tools to help them navigate that uncertainty by identifying which patients require further testing and this trial in England is an important step towards addressing that need. This trial exploring whether blood tests could help GPs identify people who need further tests and, ultimately, diagnose cancers earlier is welcome. The findings will be valuable in guiding further research, including whether these tests could be used in the NHS.”