Assessment of Novel Biomarkers in Participants Undergoing Targeted Lung Health Checks

Low-dose CT (LDCT) screening for lung cancer (LCS) has been shown to reduce lung cancer specific mortality in multiple randomised controlled trials. However, although LDCT screening has been demonstrated to reduce cancer- specific mortality, there remain outstanding questions regarding how screening can be implemented. In particular, indeterminate nodules are common, and can be challenging to distinguish from benign nodules on CT appearances alone. Furthermore, distinguishing cancers which are likely to become clinically significant from those that will remain indolent is challenging, but essential to prevent over-treatment and overdiagnosis. There is significant interest in using a multi-modal approach to LCS, incorporating biomarkers obtained from minimally-invasive samples alongside LDCT to improve ability to recognise clinically-significant lung cancers at an early stage.

The Targeted Lung Health Check (TLHC) programme is an NHS programme with the aim of using LDCT screening in appropriately high-risk individuals to improve early diagnosis and survival in lung cancer. The North Central London TLHC programme started in December 2022.

The purpose of the ALPINE study is to develop a platform to allow collection of minimally-invasive samples from participants undergoing screening within the North Central London TLHC programme. The use of such biomarkers in the diagnosis of lung cancer is a rapidly developing field and novel techniques and technologies are continuously under development. The ALPINE study will generate a cohort with matched biosamples, CT scans and clinical data which will be uniquely well placed to serve to develop or validate biomarkers in lung cancer screening and risk prediction.