BRITAIN: A simple blood test may help to improve survival rates for ovarian cancer by revealing which patients are likely to develop a resistance to chemotherapy drugs.
Prof Robert Brown, of Glasgow University, told a cancer conference yesterday that he and his colleagues found that the body can switch off genes that enable chemotherapy to kill cancer cells if the tumour reappears after initial treatment.
The blood test would enable doctors to identify patients who are likely to respond to additional treatment following a recurrence, or those who could benefit from soon-to-be tested drugs that are designed to turn the genetic switch back on.
Prof Brown said: "We're using it in ovarian cancer patients to look at mechanisms of how tumours become resistant to chemotherapy and to show associations with patient survival following chemotherapy."
Blood tests have been used in other types of cancer to detect the genetic changes, known as gene methylation, that can occur in tumours. Patients who do not acquire methlyation of a particular gene survive longer.
In early results from 500 ovarian cancer patients in an international trial of the test, Prof Brown and his team found signs of gene methylation.
Prof Brown, a molecular biologist, presented his findings at a meeting of senior researchers at the charity Cancer Research UK in Harrogate, northern England.
He said it was important to identify patients who could benefit from demethylating agents, which would be given in conjunction with chemotherapy.