Dad's death inspired my cancer research, says scientist

A scientist behind pioneering research into a test which can show if a patient has a brain tumour by analysing their tears says the work was deeply personal to her.

Prof Petra Hamerlik, who is leading the study at the University of Manchester, said she was 15 when she lost her father to a brain tumour that had taken eight months to diagnose.

She said the experience motivated her to find a better way to diagnose brain tumours.

The ground-breaking screening test, which started with a casual chat between two scientists in a bar in Denmark in 2012, has proved successful in initial trials, and the research is about to be published worldwide.

Hamerlik told BBC North West Tonight: "In that conversation it somehow came up that he was analysing tears for some ocular diseases and I said, 'What if there is a connection?' because we know the eye is the extension of the central nervous system.

"We speculated that maybe whatever is happening in the brain when the tumour starts growing it is mirrored and reflected in the tear fluid.

"So that was kind of the first thought."

About 500 people have taken part in the NHS approved study into tear fluid across eight different sites, and researchers in other countries have been helping.

Huw McCandless, a brain tumour patient from Disley, took part in the research.

Because he had had surgery, it was known exactly what tumour he had, so researchers were able to run the tests to see if they could correctly identify it.

He explained the simple screening test "made your eyes feel a bit dry, but that was it".

Hamerlik said: "We want to make sure this test does not misdiagnose. So if you have a signal, you know it's a signal related to a tumour, and not some other neurological condition."

Medics said developing successful brain cancer screening would improve outcomes and spur investments in new treatments.

Hamerlik said it was likely to be a decade before her test is rolled out.

She added: "I have always been curious about whether we can detect brain tumours before they become symptomatic because... in the case of my father, it took eight months for the clinicians to figure out he has a brain tumour."

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