Development of new blood based markers to measure drug effectiveness and to personalise treatment in prostate cancer patients

The project in a nutshell

Testing to see if genetic markers in the blood of men with prostate cancer can be used to help doctors assess how individuals respond to new treatments and which treatments would work best.

Why we funded it

Doctors usually rely on changes in PSA to check whether a new treatment is effective or not. PSA is the best test currently available but has many limitations. Tumours release mutated DNA into the blood stream which can be counted using the latest technology. Changes in the mutation count during treatment may more accurately reflect how well a treatment is working than a PSA test, which could lead to more prostate cancer treatments and more personalised medicine.

Grant information 

Institution - Barts Cancer Institute
Researcher - Dr Marco Gerlinger
Grant award - £50,000
Duration - 2013-2014
Reference - PA12-15 Gerlinger