In 2025, the Swedish Cancer Society is making the largest investment in its history, more than one billion SEK will fund new cancer research. Among the awarded projects is one led by Sandra Lindstedt, Adjunct Professor at Lund University and clinical researcher at the Wallenberg Centre for Molecular Medicine (WCMM). Her research focuses on developing a simple and non-invasive test to detect lung cancer by analysing particles in exhaled breath.
"We have shown that our method can distinguish between healthy individuals and people with lung cancer and even identify the tumour’s genetic profile. Now we want to develop a rapid test that can be used in primary care, so that more patients receive a diagnosis earlier and can start treatment sooner,” says Sandra Lindstedt.
Sandra Lindstedt’s research group has already demonstrated promising results. Their method can not only distinguish between healthy individuals and people with lung cancer, it can even identify the tumour’s genetic profile.
A gentle test designed for early diagnosis
Lung cancer is the deadliest cancer worldwide, mainly because it is often detected too late for successful treatment. Lindstedt’s project builds on PExA technology, which allows biological material to be collected from the small airways in the lungs, entirely without any invasive procedures.
The research team has already identified specific protein patterns in exhaled breath samples that clearly differentiate lung cancer patients from healthy individuals. With the newly awarded SEK 27 million, the method will now be evaluated in a larger multi-centre clinical study at several hospitals in Sweden.
The hope is that the technique can eventually be developed into a rapid, widely accessible test, for example at primary care centres, representing an important step toward improving survival rates for one of the most lethal cancer types.
