Blood test ‘could help cancer patients receive tailored treatment’

A new type of blood test has been developed to pair cancer patients with the most suitable therapy and track the success of the treatment.

Developed at the Institute of Cancer Research and the Royal Marsden in London, with backing from Cancer Research UK, the test was developed after examining almost 160 blood samples from 39 patients with different types of late-stage cancer.

The test filters out tumour DNA from a patient's blood to be analysed for genetic faults. With these results, researchers can match these defects to targeted cancer treatments, which then home in on cancer cells carrying these traits.

Whereas biopsies are usually only taken at the beginning of treatment and therefore cannot reveal much about how the disease is changing in response to treatment, the new blood test could provide real-time updates and help identify patients suitable for trials of new drugs.

Professor Johann de Bono, from The Institute of Cancer Research, London, and The Royal Marsden, said: "We need to do more research, but this approach could have a huge impact on how we make treatment decisions, also potentially making diagnosis and treatment quicker, cheaper and less invasive."