Tear-based test could speed brain cancer diagnosis, study expands

A tear-based diagnostic approach for glioblastoma, the most aggressive form of brain cancer, has moved a step closer to wider testing as a Bolton father with an incurable brain tumour donates his tears to the study. Researchers at the Manchester Cancer Research Centre, supported by nearly £500,000 from Stand Up To Cancer, say the work could lead to a faster, cheaper and less invasive way to identify brain cancer and could eventually be used in general practice if proven effective.

Alex Davies, 49, of Lostock, Bolton, began suffering seizures in 2023 and was treated for epilepsy before scans revealed a brain tumour. He was told he may only have 12 to 18 months to live. He has since undergone surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy, with initial follow-up scans showing no evidence of cancer before the tumour grew back and he began receiving palliative care at home. Davies has donated his tears to the study with the hope that earlier diagnosis could help others in the future.

The research is led by scientists at the University of Manchester who are examining whether tear proteins can distinguish brain cancer patients from healthy volunteers in what researchers describe as a liquid biopsy. The team is developing a tear-protein-based classifier that could provide a non-invasive route to diagnosis, potentially speeding up the process and reducing the need for more intrusive testing.

Prof Petra Hamerlik, who leads the project, has said the work represents a world-first approach to diagnosing brain cancer through tear fluid. Her team is focused on developing a classifier that can differentiate brain cancer patients from healthy individuals with high accuracy, with plans to push for rapid deployment across health services if the results hold up.

The studies also aim to understand how tear-based testing could fit into the patient pathway. Davies’s wife, Emma, said a simple tear test that could bring a diagnosis forward would ease the burden of a crisis that is already brutal for families. She described their experience as a really horrible time and said a quicker test could improve outcomes for many others in the future.

Funding from Stand Up To Cancer, a joint campaign by Cancer Research UK and Channel 4, has allowed the Manchester researchers to move from smaller-scale trials to larger cohorts. The project’s near-£500,000 support is intended to validate tear-based biomarkers in a broader population and assess how the approach could be integrated into routine care. The team hopes the test could eventually be deployed in GP surgeries, enabling patients with suspicious symptoms to receive faster assessments and earlier diagnoses.

The researchers emphasize that this is a discovery phase with a long pathway to clinical use. If the tear-based classifier demonstrates robust accuracy in larger trials, the next steps would involve regulatory approvals and additional funding to scale up production of any diagnostic tool and to ensure it can be rapidly implemented across health services. The ambition is to reduce the time from symptom onset to diagnosis, which in Davies’s case stretched over months and involved a sequence of tests and procedures.

Davies’s experience underscores the challenge of brain tumours, where symptoms such as severe headaches, speech difficulties, balance problems and confusion can evolve gradually. He collapsed in 2023, and his initial MRI did not detect the tumour. Over roughly three months his condition worsened, revealing the true extent of the disease and setting him on a treatment path that has included surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy, followed by ongoing palliation at home. His story illustrates why researchers are pursuing non-invasive, rapid tests that could complement imaging and neurological exams in the diagnostic process.

If successful, the tear-based diagnostic approach could transform how brain cancers are detected by enabling earlier identification and more timely referrals for treatment. Researchers caution that even if the classifier proves highly accurate, it will need extensive validation and careful integration into clinical workflows before it can replace existing diagnostic modalities. Nonetheless, the project’s progress marks a notable advance in the broader effort to make brain cancer diagnosis faster, cheaper and less burdensome for patients and families alike.

The study’s leadership and its evolving scope reflect a growing interest in non-invasive biomarkers for brain tumours. As larger-scale trials begin or proceed, researchers are hopeful that tear fluid could become a practical tool to identify cancers earlier, potentially improving outcomes for patients who, like Davies, face challenging prognoses.