According to various media reports, an experimental blood test could help personalise treatment for advanced prostate cancer. The findings need confirming in clinical trials, but if it works the test could save some men from treatment that may not work.
The test, developed by scientists at The Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) and Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, detects DNA released by cancer cells into the bloodstream.
Men whose blood samples carried multiple copies of a particular gene tended to do worse when treated with the main drugs for the standard treatment for advanced prostate cancer.