Cancer Research UK scientists launch blood test to check tumours

Scientists at Cancer Research UK have found a new way of investigating how tumours evolve in real-time.

Specialists at the organisation's institute at the University of Cambridge used traces of tumour DNA to follow the progress of the disease as it developed, enabling them to create resistance to chemotherapy treatments.

Researchers followed six patients with advanced breast, ovarian and lung cancer to take blood samples over one to two years.

By searching for changes in the tumour ctDNA before and after each course of treatment, experts were able to determine which changes in the tumour's DNA were linked to drug resistance after each treatment session.

Thanks to this method, researchers were able to identify numerous changes to drug resistance in response to chemotherapy drugs including paclitaxel and transtuzumab.

Dr Nitzan Rosenfeld, Cancer Research UK-funded scientist and one of the study authors, said: “Tumours are constantly changing and evolving, which helps them develop a resistance to many of the drugs we currently give patients to treat their disease.

"We’ve shown that a very simple blood test can be used to collect enough tumour DNA to suggest to us what parts of the cancer’s genetic code is changing and creating tumour resistance to chemotherapy or biologically-targeted therapies."

Dr Rosenfeld continued by saying that he hopes the discoveries can help researchers understand how cancers develop drug resistance.

Kate Law, director of clinical research at Cancer Research UK, also commented on the news, noting that research is helping experts to find out how tumours develop resistance to even the most effective drugs used in treatments.

Ms Law explained that new techniques such as the blood test offer a "more personalised approach" to treating cancers, which will help to improve the effectiveness of treatments.

This news comes after a study by the University of Cambridge and the Institute of Cancer Research in London found over 80 regions of the genome that can increase a person's risk of breast, prostate and ovarian cancer.

Posted by Ben Evans