Breast cancer could be detected earlier with a simple blood test, researchers at Imperial College London said.

Currently, X-rays and mammograms are used to spot a lump, but the British researchers hope that the blood test will provide a more accurate way to detect breast cancer than mammograms. They also believe that simple blood test will be able to detect if a patient is likely to relapse and what medicines will respond to a particular sort of tumour.

A new clinical study is all set to start in the UK's leading breast screening clinic at west London-based Charing Cross hospital. In the study, researchers will make a comparison between DNA markers in the blood of women with and without the health condition.

Prof. Charles Coombes, breast cancer specialist from Imperial College London, said, "When a woman has breast cancer we can tell by the DNA in their blood. But what we're trying to find out in our study is how early the signs of breast cancer show up in a blood test."

Coombes said they would concentrate at detecting breast cancer through blood test, but added that they would later also look at using a blood test to spot other cancers like lung and bowel cancers.

The report about efforts to detect breast cancer though simple blood test comes as October has been marked as National Breast Cancer Awareness Month to raise awareness about the deadly health condition.