Blood-test boost for treatment of breast cancer

A new blood test for women with breast cancer can identify weaknesses in their tumours.

A new blood test for women with breast cancer can identify weaknesses in their tumours, allowing doctors to speed up and target their treatment.

Women with advanced forms of the disease may be able to avoid painful biopsies and could elect instead to ­undergo a blood test that looks for DNA from the tumour that has been shed into the bloodstream.

Trials have shown that the blood tests can detect rare ­mutations in the DNA of breast cancer tumours that would guide doctors in tailoring treatment to the patient more ­swiftly.

Cancer Research charity, which helped fund the research, said: “They found specific weaknesses in the breast cancer DNA that could be targeted with drugs, suggesting that this blood test could be a better way of guiding treatment than standard tissue ­biopsies, which can be painful and take longer to analyse.”

The test, known as a liquid biopsy, could enable patients to “access effective treatments more quickly in the future”, the charity said.

Researchers analysed blood from 1000 women with breast cancer that had either returned after treatment or spread in the body, indicating that it was at a more advanced stage.

Cancer Research said: “The researchers believe the blood tests are now reliable enough to be used routinely by doctors, once they have passed regu­latory approval.”

The Times