The World Health Organization has long been alarming: the number of cancer patients is growing rapidly! The discovery of scientists from Royal Marsden in London may contribute to the fight against the cancer epidemic. They have developed a blood test that can predict whether and at what rate cancer will spread throughout the body. British Daily Mail wrote about it.
A test developed by British scientists analyzes the DNA fragments of tumors that tumors release into the bloodstream for future cancerous tumors. Its effectiveness has been confirmed by studies conducted on a group of 47 patients with rectal cancer.
Blood analyzes of patients allowed to initially determine who will develop metastases. After two years, it turned out that the predictions were very accurate.
Blood samples of patients with rectal cancer were collected before, during and after their chemotherapy and radiotherapy (radiochemotherapy – CRT), as well as after surgery. They were subjected to the so-called liquid biopsy – analysis of neoplastic DNA isolated from the peripheral blood of patients. The genetic material released by cancer cells into the bloodstream is called slowly circulating DNA (ctDNA). They were located in 74 percent. patients tested prior to any treatment. After CRT, 21 percent had them. patients, and after surgery 13 percent.
Researchers found that people with persistent ctDNA throughout treatment had the greatest risk of metastasis developing more quickly. ‘These results suggest that liquid biopsies enable accurate determination of cancer activity throughout the body,’ said Prof. David Cunningham OBE, oncologist at The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust.
The lead author of the study, oncologist at The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, Dr. Shelize Khakoo emphasizes: “ If we can predict early on who will develop metastases, it will be possible to tailor treatment to the individual patient. At the same time, he stressed that “while our findings are exciting, it should be noted that they were carried out on a small group of patients and would require confirmation in a larger study”.
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