Scientists have found 31 tiny RNA markers in blood that can signal lung cancer risk up to 10 years before diagnosis, a study in Advanced Science reports.

The research, led by the University of Hawai’i, analysed blood samples from the Multiethnic Cohort Study to find the small noncoding RNAs linked to future disease.

The markers could one day help identify people at higher risk while the cancer is still clinically undetectable — opening the door to earlier screening and treatment.

Separately, diagnostics firm Hummingbird will present blood-based RNA biomarker data for stage III lung cancer at the ESMO cancer congress in Madrid on October 23, exploring prognosis and disease monitoring.

Lung cancer remains one of the deadliest cancers worldwide, largely because it is usually caught late, when treatment options are limited.

Researchers caution the findings are early — but a simple blood test that flags risk years ahead would transform how the disease is fought.