A new prostate cancer blood test can facilitate to target treatment by analyzing cancerous cells more precisely. A study found that this blood test could identify which men with advanced prostate cancer would benefit from new drug treatment.
Scientists from The Institute of Cancer Research and the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust together did the research, to analyze blood samples from nearly 50 men during the trial of a new drug for prostate cancer that has spread to other parts of the body. The blood test discovers cancer gene in the blood and the data should help medics in evaluatingif the new precision drug is effective or not.
Precision medicine which is also referred as personalized medicine related to the customization of healthcare. The initiative is that medical decisionsand drug products become customized and modified for the individual patient. According to the new research,based on a given person’s individual genetic structure and meticulous physical characteristics, the medical laboratory testing could select the suitable therapy for that person.
These blood tests used to recognize men who were not responding to the treatment in four to eight weeks and also to show signs that the cancer was surfacing as well asresisting to the drugs.This kind of precision drug is witnessed as the upcoming cancer medicine but since it is a targeted treatment, the drug might not work for everybody.
Professor Johann de Bono, the lead researcher said that, “Our study identifies, for the first time, genetic changes that allow prostate cancer cells to become resistant to the precision medicine olaparib. From these findings, we were able to develop a powerful, three-in-one test that could in future be used to help doctors select treatment, check whether it is working and monitor the cancer in the longer term.”