Cheap blood test may help tailor prostate cancer treatment

A blood test that costs less than £50 to perform could prevent men from undergoing treatment with two drugs that cost thousands of pounds per month. The test works by identifying men whose particular form of prostate cancer is resistant to the drugs enzalutamide and abiraterone, making treatment with the drugs unnecessary.

The two drugs, enzalutamide and abiraterone, are used in cases where prostate cancer no longer responds to standard hormone therapy and has begun to spread further. The treatment is currently administered for 12 weeks before doctors are able to examine whether it is having a positive effect.

However, the new test is able to determine whether genetic mutations mean that the treatment will be effective or not. It works by analysing blood samples, taken through a simple blood test, to identify changes to the Androgen Receptor. This particular protein is part of the process that causes cancer cells to grow, which allows certain drugs, such as enzalutamide and abiraterone, to target it. In certain cases, further mutations in the protein mean that it is not impacted by such treatment.

"A man with incurable prostate cancer does not have time to waste taking drugs that will not work for him," says Dr Iain Frame, Director of Research at Prostate Cancer UK. "To stop prostate cancer from being a killer, we need to move away from a one-size-fits-all approach to treatment. This test could be a significant step towards that and we’ll be watching its development very closely. Thanks to our supporters, we are ramping up investment in prostate cancer research to get the right drug for the right man at the right time."

Prostate Cancer UK has provided funding for the development of the test, which is now progressing into further clinical trials. The prospect is that the test could be used by doctors to cheaply identify those patients who would not respond to treatment. With a monthly supply of abiraterone alone costing £2,000, this could lead to savings in treatment cost at a time when the NHS is under pressure over funding.