Genetic tests to target prostate cancer treatment

It’s about time that men with prostate cancer got the same ‘personalised’ treatments offered to women with breast cancer.

So trials in 100 hospitals aimed at extending the lives of men with advanced prostate cancer is very good news.

About 47,000 men are diagnosed with prostate cancer each year, but in a quarter of cases the disease has already spread to other parts of the body, lowering survival chances.

The Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) in London and Queen’s University Belfast will use tumour genetics to ensure the best treatment is delivered from diagnosis, rather than ‘blindly’ administering standard treatments.

The study will identify changes in the DNA of prostate cancer cells that drive the growth, develop a test to detect these genetic changes, and establish which drugs best prevent the cancer from spreading further.

Men with advanced prostate cancer are typically treated with hormone therapy, and move on to life-extending treatments once it has stopped working.

The study will focus on the cancer before it becomes resistant to hormone therapy.

Dr Iain Frame, director of research at Prostate Cancer UK, said: “This is the first time that this precision approach has been used to treat men at this stage of the disease.

“We know from other studies involving men with advanced prostate cancer that starting additional treatments alongside hormone therapy before resistance develops can prolong their life – sometimes significantly.”

Dr Gerhardt Attard, leading the research at the ICR, said: “We’ve assembled a pan-uk group of investigators who will use state-ofthe-art technology to study thousands of tumours and develop tests that tell doctors which drug or combination of drugs will work best for an individual patient.”

Good news!