Cancer breakthrough could see blood test used to predict how disease spreads
dailyrecord.co.ukBlood tests could one day be used to determine the likelihood of cancer spreading and growing in a patient's body, allowing for adapted and tailored treatment.
The potential breakthrough comes after seven papers have been published as part of Cancer Research UK's nine-year-long TRACERx study, which has involved over 800 patients.Focusing on lung cancer, the third most common type of cancer in the UK, researchers identified patterns of DNA changes in patients' tumours.
The studies' authors, based out of the Francis Crick Institute and University College London, found ways to use these patterns to indicate what a cancer might do next.
They uncovered specific mutations that could warn that cancer was more likely to come back after treatment or could spread in the body.The mutations and changes can be monitored through blood tests, allowing doctors to pick up on early signs that cancer may return or is not responding to treatment.
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