Blood test reveals women's response to breast cancer treatment

gm349 — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 14:22:30 +0000

Researchers at the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute at the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge took regular blood samples from 30 women with advanced breast cancer that had spread.

They used three biomarkers – circulating tumour DNA, levels of a protein called Cancer Antigen 15-3 (CA 15-3) and free-floating tumour cells – which can measure how advanced the disease is.

̽��ֱ��researchers compared these results with CT scans to see if changes in the biomarkers matched up with changes in the cancer.

They found that, out of the three biomarkers, tumour DNA in women’s blood gave the most accurate ‘real time’ picture of changes taking place in the body.

Professor Carlos Caldas, senior group leader at the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute and co-lead author of the study, said: “This study offers a practical application of cancer genomics and highlights the potential of personalised cancer medicine. By understanding the point at which a cancer changes we can select the most effective treatments and minimise side effects for patients.

“We can use blood samples to track how breast cancer is progressing as fragments of DNA are shed by cancer cells when they die, meaning they can be detected in blood samples using sensitive new sequencing techniques. ̽��ֱ��levels of tumour DNA are telling us how the cancer is responding to treatment.”

̽��ֱ��research was part-funded by Cancer Research UK and supported by the Experimental Cancer Medicine Centre and National Institute for Health Research Biomedical Research Centre at the Cambridge ̽��ֱ�� Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

Dr Nitzan Rosenfeld, group leader at the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute and co-lead author of the study, said: “This work marks an important step in establishing circulating tumour DNA as a key biomarker for monitoring advanced breast cancer patients.

“By rigorous comparison to markers such as circulating tumour cells and CT imaging, we have shown that personalised genomic tests provide a sensitive and non-invasive measure of cancer spread and response to treatment. We also showed that these can be measured effectively by a variety of practical methods.”

Professor Peter Johnson, Cancer Research UK’s chief clinician, said: “These results hold the promise of a system that could allow us to modify someone’s treatment as their cancer changes, and they suggest an exciting way to quickly get hold of the personal details of a cancer, to target it for the most effective therapy.

“One of the things that will help our scientists design better cancer treatments is a way of measuring early on which ones are working and which are not. If we can find the molecular footprints of cancers during treatment and see how they change, we hope we will be able to track them down and remove them much more efficiently.”

̽��ֱ��Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute is a major research centre which aims to take the scientific strengths of Cambridge to practical application for the benefit of cancer patients. ̽��ֱ��Institute is a unique partnership between the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge and Cancer Research UK. It is housed in the Li Ka Shing Centre, a state-of-the-art research facility located on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus which was generously funded by Hutchison Whampoa Ltd, Cambridge ̽��ֱ��, Cancer Research UK, ̽��ֱ��Atlantic Philanthropies and a range of other donors.

Story provided by the CRUK.

For more information about this story, please contact: Genevieve Maul, Office of Communications, ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge. Email: Genevieve.Maul@admin.cam.ac.uk; Tel: 01223 765542.

Breast tumour DNA circulating in the bloodstream could be used to measure how well a woman’s cancer is responding to treatment, according to a new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

̽��ֱ��levels of tumour DNA are telling us how the cancer is responding to treatment

Carlos Caldas

̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge: Johnny Settle

DNA

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Womb and prostate cancer link revealed

gm349 — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 14:00:38 +0000

In men a gene within the same region - called HNF1B - has previously been linked to lower prostate cancer risk, but higher risk of type-2 diabetes.

̽��ֱ��study – funded by Cancer Research UK, the National Health and Medical Research Council in Australia and the Wellcome Trust – is the first to find a genetic link between these two different cancer types.

Women with the protective ‘version’ of the gene are on average 15-18 per cent less likely to develop womb cancer, while men with the same version are 21 per cent less likely to develop prostate cancer. It has also been linked to a 10-14 per cent greater risk of developing type-2 diabetes.

Lead author Professor Douglas Easton, Director of Cancer Research UK’s Genetic Epidemiology Unit at the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge, said: “This study is the first to highlight a potential link between womb cancer in women and prostate cancer in men, providing new insight into the underlying genes and mechanisms that lead to the development of both diseases.

“Understanding how these influence a person’s risk of developing cancer is a crucial step in being able to identify high risk groups who may benefit from closer monitoring or measures to reduce their risk of developing the disease.”

In the hunt for genes linked to womb cancer, the researchers began by scanning the genomes of 1,265 womb cancer patents and comparing them to the genomes of 5,190 women who didn’t have the disease.

This allowed them to pinpoint a total of 47 different one-letter alterations in the genetic code – known as single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) – where genes linked to womb cancer were most likely to be found.

They then narrowed down their search by looking specifically at these regions in a further 3,957 patients with womb cancer and 6,886 without the disease.

This left just three SNPs that were shown to be significantly linked to a decreased risk of womb cancer, all of which overlapped with the gene HNF1B on chromosome 17.

Dr Lesley Walker, director of cancer information at Cancer Research UK, said: “This is only the second common genetic region to have been linked to the development of womb cancer.

“With faster, cheaper genome technologies now becoming available, we are on the cusp of being able to carry out powerful genome studies involving much larger groups of people. This will allow scientists to pinpoint subtler associations helping to build a more complete picture of how genes influence a person’s risk of developing womb cancer. Ultimately this will pave the way for more targeted approaches to treating and diagnosing the disease.”

Scientists have carried out the first ever genome scan for womb cancer and discovered a genetic region that reduces risk of the disease, according to a Cambridge study published in Nature Genetics on Sunday, 17 April.

This study is the first to highlight a potential link between womb cancer in women and prostate cancer in men, providing new insight into the underlying genes and mechanisms that lead to the development of both diseases.

Lead author Professor Douglas Easton, Director of Cancer Research UK’s Genetic Epidemiology Unit at the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge

Nigel Luckhurst

Pipette

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̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge - prostate

Blood test reveals women's response to breast cancer treatment

Womb and prostate cancer link revealed