Liquid Lung Biopsy
Analysing tumour DNA in blood will offer targeted treatments best suited
to a patient’s lung cancer.
Doctors at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston have developed a
DNA test, called a liquid biopsy that can detect mutations in two key genes
found in lung tumours.
The Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women's Cancer Center is now offering this
analysis to all patients with non-small cell lung cancer at the point of
diagnosis or when the cancer comes back after treatment.
The results are available in 3 days. The test involves taking a sample
of blood and fishing for free-floating DNA released by dying cancer cells.
The findings are published in the journal JAMA Oncology.
The team focused on two key genes, called EGRF and KRAS, which are
faulty in around a third of patients with NSCLC. Each patient also underwent a
traditional tissue biopsy for comparison.
- Sacher, A., et al. (2016). Prospective Validation of Rapid Plasma
Genotyping for the Detection of and Mutations in Advanced Lung Cancer. JAMA
[cancerresearchuk]
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