New blood test helps detect men susceptible to prostate cancer

A SIMPLE blood test could help to identify men with prostate cancer who are less likely to respond to treatment or more likely to relapse, research has suggested.

The liquid biopsy – a non-invasive, less painful test than commonly-used tissue biopsies – could lead to tailored treatment for those in the advanced stages of the disease, scientists said.

Researchers at The Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) in London and The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust looked at more than 1,000 blood samples from 216 men with advanced prostate cancer.

They said the tests can detect traces of cancer in the bloodstream and could help track how the disease evolves and responds to treatment.

The study focused on men who were part of a clinical trial looking at the benefit of the targeted drug abiraterone with or without an experimental drug, ipatasertib.

The results conclusively showed that men with high levels of tumour DNA at the start of treatment had a significantly worse outcome.

They also found, after monitoring patients with repeat blood tests, that those who responded to treatment had the greatest fall in the amount of cancer DNA in their bloodstream.

Scientists also found, through analysis of DNA from the blood tests, that there were specific genetic changes associated with drug resistance, indicating risk of early relapse.

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men in the UK, with more than 47,500 men diagnosed every year, according to Prostate Cancer UK.