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A new blood test could help predict whether women with bad cancer will respond to treatment before it starts.
Scientists at the London Cancer Institute have said that "liquid biopsy" can detect genetic changes in patients' tumors and indicate whether they are less likely to respond to a new targeted drug.
These genetic modifications can also predict whether a patient's illness is likely to recur.
Professor Paul Workman, director of the Cancer Institute, said, "The ability of cancer to evolve to become resistant to treatment is the biggest challenge we face in improving the survival and quality of life of patients .
"Liquid biopsy tests such as this one are a key part of our toolbox to stay on top of the adaptability and the evolution of cancers and to detect the first signs of drug resistance.
"Detecting the potential of cancers to develop resistance could help us predict the next stage of cancer and respond with new, adaptable treatment plans."
Cancer DNA fragments in the blood samples of 310 women with bad cancer positive estrogen receptors – the most common form of disease – were badyzed during the course of the study. 39; study.
The patients had advanced bad cancer and were taking part in a trial of a targeted drug, palbociclib and fulvestrant.
The research team found that 42% of women had at least one of three changes in the tumor's DNA in the blood that put them at risk of early relapse.
Women whose circulating tumor DNA contained changes in the p53 cancer gene saw their cancer recur after an average of 3.7 months, compared to 12.7 months in unmodified women. An increase in other genes has also been found to predict when the cancer may return.
Professor Nicholas Turner, of the Institute of Cancer and Royal Marsden, said that the study had revealed that a new genetic test could detect early in treatment women whose cancer was the more likely to quickly develop resistance to palbociclib.
"We could then adjust their treatment plan accordingly – by testing other treatments from the start to try to prevent resistance, or by switching to another treatment as soon as resistance develops.
"We must now evaluate, as part of a clinical trial, whether helping women to take charge of this new test can improve survival and quality of life."
The research was presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology in Chicago.
Australian Associated Press
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