British researchers have unveiled a blood test that can be used to identify men who are failing to respond to PARP inhibitor treatment for advanced prostate cancer.
The test measures levels of circulating cancer DNA and has been developed at The Institute of Cancer Research, London, and The Royal Marsden NHS foundation Trust.
According to the researchers, the test can identify if treatment is failing within four to eight weeks.
It can also be used at a later stage of treatment to detect if the disease is evolving to become drug-resistant.
The work was published today in Cancer Discovery.
It emerged from a study involving 49 patients with advanced prostate cancer enrolled in a clinical trial of olaparib. The research showed that patients responding to the drug enjoyed a halving of levels of circulating cancer DNA over eight weeks. DNA levels increased slightly in patients for whom treatment was ineffective.
Researcher Professor Johann de Bono said: “Our study identifies, for the first time, genetic changes that allow prostate cancer cells to become resistant to the precision medicine olaparib.
“From these findings, we were able to develop a powerful, three-in-one test that could in future be used to help doctors select treatment, check whether it is working and monitor the cancer in the longer term. We think it could be used to make clinical decisions about whether a PARP inhibitor is working within as little as four to eight weeks of starting therapy.
“Not only could the test have a major impact on treatment of prostate cancer, but it could also be adapted to open up the possibility of precision medicine to patients with other types of cancer as well.”
Dr Matthew Hobbs, of Prostate Cancer UK said: “To greatly improve the survival chances of the 47,000 men diagnosed with prostate cancer each year, it’s clear that we need to move away from the current one-size-fits-all approach to much more targeted treatment methods.
"The results from this study and others like it are crucial as they give an important understanding of the factors that drive certain prostate cancers, or make them vulnerable to specific treatments."
Cancer Discovery 19 June 2017
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