Developing blood tests to distinguish aggressive from low activity prostate cancer and identify the causes of resistance to treatment

The aim

The development of genetic tests that can be performed on blood to allow the differentiation of aggressive from low activity prostate cancer and the identification of changes that cause resistance in patients receiving treatment

The project in a nutshell

Identifying a blood test that can find the mutant genes from prostate cancer that circulate in the blood and identify which genes are linked to aggressive prostate cancer.

Why we funded it

Being able to identify whether a man's prostate cancer is likely to be aggressive or not through testing the blood will help men make more informed choices about treatment and could lead to new treatments too.

Grant information 

Institution - Institute of Cancer Research, Sutton
Researcher - Dr Gerhardt Attard
Grant award - £245,867.09
Duration - 2013-2016
Reference - PG12-49 Attard