Personalised cancer treatment, matched to a patient via a simple blood test, is being hailed as “life-saving”, following an initial study.
The Target National trial, being conducted at The Christie hospital in Manchester, analyses a patient’s DNA to determine what type of therapy will work best for them.
If successful, researchers hope the procedure could become “routinely available on the NHS”.
Dr Matthew Krebs, the study’s chief investigator, tells Sky News its research was making “precision medicine” more accessible for a wider range of cancer patients.
“There are tiny bits of DNA which come off the cancer that circulate around in the bloodstream,” he explains, “so we can extract the DNA that specifically comes from the cancer.”
That DNA is then analysed, allowing doctors to see its specific mutations and suggest bespoke treatment.
Dr Krebs says that means “rather than just treating generically with chemotherapy-type drugs” the patient gets a treatment “that’s more personalised to them”.
Although genetic and DNA testing for cancer patients is already being carried out in hospitals, typically the sample is collected using a biopsy.
That can involve surgery, be intrusive, painful and – in some cases – delayed.
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‘It’s been life-saving’
The Target National study, funded by The Christie Charity and the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation, hopes to recruit 6,000 patients, to examine if the blood-test route, in effect a “liquid biopsy”, improves patient outcomes.
Dr Krebs says they know that the blood test route “won’t work for everyone”, but in some cases, it has already enabled patients with advanced cancers to be matched to drug trials.
Pamela Garner-Jones, 78, was told her stage four cervical cancer was “inoperable” and “no longer responding to treatment”.
“They were talking about palliative care,” she tells Sky News. “I thought they were making it up, I couldn’t believe it.”
At that point, Ms Garner-Jones was offered a place on the Target National study. Her blood test matched her to a new immunotherapy drug trial, that saw her tumour shrink by two-thirds.
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“Honestly, I couldn’t ask for anything more,” she says. “I’ve got more energy, my appetite’s back – it’s been life-saving.”
“It’s just a simple blood test and you’re not pumped full of no end of drugs,” she adds.
Ms Garner-Jones says she is now looking forward to a holiday with friends, meals out and being able to spend time in her garden.
“I’m made up,” she says. “Like a dog with two tails!”
