Creating a blood test for chemotherapy benefit

What you need to know

  • Many men with advanced prostate cancer do not benefit from chemotherapy drugs like docetaxel because the cancer is resistant to this type of treatment
  • Dr George Seed has found early signs of genetic markers in the blood that could identify these men in advance but he needs to validate these findings
  • If this is successful, it could lead to a blood test that allows men to receive the right treatment for them
We believe that studying this will allow the delivery of better care for aggressive prostate cancers, by helping clinicians select the appropriate treatment for the specific type of prostate cancer that a patient has, and avoid treating patients with aggressive therapies where a drug is unlikely to provide benefit.
Dr George Seed

Dr George Seed will set up a new study of men taking part in clinical trials to see whether the genetic markers from the cancer can predict the success of chemotherapy. This could lead to a new blood test to ensure each man gets the best treatment for him.

Helping all men to benefit

Thanks to previous research, almost all men with advanced prostate cancer are given chemotherapy alongside hormone therapy when they are first diagnosed. A ground-breaking clinical trial showed that it increased survival by 15 months on average. However, many men do not benefit from this type of treatment as their cancer is resistant.

Currently, we have no way to tell which men will benefit or when to switch them to a different treatment.

DNA in the blood

Researchers are increasingly able to find important information about a man’s cancer by analysing fragments of DNA released by cancer cells into the bloodstream. This could make it possible to detect treatment resistance early and monitor how the cancer changes over time.

George Seed and his colleagues have been working to develop these technologies to help clinicians provide better care for men with advanced prostate cancer. Some early results have found potential genetic markers to identify whether a man will benefit from docetaxel treatment, but these need to be further validated.

Detailed analysis

Dr Seed will analyse blood samples from men before treatment and monthly during treatment. This will allow him to understand how mutations in the cancer influence the drug’s effectiveness and how these can change over time.

As part of his fellowship, Dr Seed will spend six months working in the labs of collaborators at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute at Harvard University. This will give him access to training and expertise in developing the computational methods needed to create a reliable test.

A new test

A blood test of this type could cost less than £100 and would prevent men from being given an ineffective treatment. It could help to stop this type of treatment earlier if the tumour is not shrinking. Following his fellowship, Dr Seed plans to continue his work in analysing the make-up of each man’s prostate cancer.

Grant information

Reference – TLD-PF19-005

Researcher – Dr George Seed

Institution – Institute of Cancer Research

Award - £268,433