Scientists develop blood test to predict breast cancer relapse
Researchers from The Institute of Cancer Research, London, and The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation developed a blood test to predict which breast cancer patients have cancer relapse. The test finds residual cancer DNA in a person’s bloodstream.
The team took blood and tumor samples from 55 early-stage breast cancer patients who recently had chemotherapy and surgery.
Women who tested positive for cancer in the blood test were 12 times more likely to relapse.
The patients were then monitored for six months to confirm who had relapses. The blood test predicted the cancer would come back an average 7.9 months before symptoms show.
Study leader Dr Nicholas Turner, Team Leader in Molecular Oncology at The Institute of Cancer Research, London, and Consultant Medical Oncologist at The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, said:
“We have shown how a simple blood test has the potential to accurately predict which patients will relapse from breast cancer, much earlier than we can currently. We also used blood tests to build a picture of how the cancer was evolving over time, and this information could be invaluable to help doctors select the correct drugs to treat the cancer.”
“Ours in the first study to show that these blood tests could be used to predict relapse. It will be some years before the test could potentially be available in hospitals, but we hope to bring this date closer by conducting much larger clinical trials starting next year. There are still challenges in implementing this technology, but digital PCR is relatively cost-effective and the information that it provides could make a real difference to breast cancer patients.”
Professor Paul Workman, Chief Executive of The Institute of Cancer Research, London, said:
“We are moving into an era of personalized medicine for cancer patients. This test could help us stay a step ahead of cancer by monitoring the way it is changing and picking treatments that exploit the weakness of the particular tumor. It is really fantastic that we can get such a comprehensive insight about what is going on in the cancer all over the body, without the need for invasive biopsies.
“Studies like this also give us a better understanding of how cancer changes to evade treatments — knowledge we can use when we are designing the new cancer drugs of the future.”
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