While we were struggling up mountains to raise money for more cancer research last week, the Royal Marsden and the Institute of Cancer Research released the results of a trial demonstrating that a blood test could be used instead of a biopsy to determine whether the most common form of breast cancer has become resistant to treatment (the study was published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology).
Doctors can also use the information from the blood tests to determine exactly which treatment to use next and therefore improve outcomes for patients.
The research was carried out by Dr Nick Turner and Dr Charlotte Fribbens, our first research fellow, and part funded by Le Cure.
Professor Paul Workman, Chief Executive of The Institute of Cancer Research, said: “Cancer drug resistance is the biggest challenge we face in defeating the disease. This fantastic new research demonstrates how a relatively simple blood test can be used, not only to detect mutations that could lead to resistance, but to precisely target treatments to the genetic changes in individual tumours as part of personalised, precision therapy.”
You can read about it here, or it was also picked up by the Daily Mail.
Thank you to everyone who has ever donated to Le Cure. This demonstrates that together we really can make a difference.
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