New Prostate Cancer Blood Test

A team of researchers has been awarded by the Prostate Cancer Foundation's Young Investigators for a new novel way to investigate prostate cancer.

The team decided to investigate the CTCs, or Circulating Tumor Cells that have broken away from an existing tumor and entered into the blood stream.

The studies show that doctors were able to monitor the patients response to new drugs by measuring the levels and molecular characteristics of CTCs in the blood. The research replaces current methods that involve complications such as imaging, biopsy, or unreliable PSA tests.

The blood test allows researchers to quickly evaluate the effects of a treatment drug on the patient so that unnecessary treatments won't be given. To establish if certain subtypes of prostate cancer are linked to drug sensitivity and resistance, they will characterize molecules and sequence genes of individual CTCs as well as the circulating plasma nucleic acids. They hope that the information will be used to give more precise treatments to the patient.

Also, the blood tests could even speed up the process of developing new drugs for prostate cancer.

The article caught my attention because it not only reduces prognostic uncertainty in prostate cancer but also allows future and faster innovations in prostate cancer drug research.

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/238631.php