Scientists have developed a blood test that helps detect when prostate cancer is evolving to become resistant to drugs. The test, called Prostate Cancer Risk Assessment (PCRA), was created by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, and published in Nature Medicine. As a result, men with advanced prostate cancer could be offered alternative therapies, or different combinations of drugs, when it appears that existing treatment is becoming less effective.
Scientists have developed a blood test that helps detect when prostate cancer is evolving to become resistant to drugs. The liquid biopsy test analyses whole tumour cells to provide an insight into the tumour’s genetic make-up, and could be used before, during and after treatment to monitor how a cancer is evolving in response. As a result, men with advanced prostate cancer could be offered alternative therapies, or different combinations of drugs, when it appears that existing treatment is becoming less effective.