DNA From Blood Tracks Cancer Development In Real Time

DNA shed in the bloodstream can track cancers while they evolve and respond to treatment, according to a new study.

Researchers at the University of Cambridge took DNA blood samples that closely matched those from biopsies studied of a breast cancer patient whose cancer had spread to other parts of the body. From this, the researchers were able to distinguish between different secondary cancers and even examine how each of the tumours was responding to treatment.

During the study, the researchers took surgical tumor samples and blood samples from the patient. They studied the fragments of DNA--meanwhile, comparing them with the biopsy that was taken at the same time.

"This definitively shows that we can use blood-based DNA tests to track the progress of cancer in real time," said senior study author Professor Carlos Caldas of the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute, in a news release. "The findings could change the way we monitor patients, and may be especially important for people with cancers that are difficult to reach, as taking a biopsy can sometimes be quite an invasive procedure."

The study results are important as they can help doctors learn more about a patient's disease without having to take repeated tumor samples.

"For now, surgical biopsies still play an important role in diagnosing and monitoring cancers," added Dr Kat Arney, science information manager at Cancer Research UK. "But this work gives us a window into the future, where we'll use less invasive techniques to track the disease in real time."

The study is published in the journal Nature Communications.

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