Solid tumour cancers, such as prostate cancer, shed cancer cells into the bloodstream. These cells are known as Circulating Tumour Cells (CTCs). CTCs are very rare, perhaps representing a single cell in one billion blood cells, and are very difficult to isolate.

They are, however, precious cells due to several defining features:

• They contain information on the type of disease – which has the potential to advise on “personalised” care decisions and targeted drug therapies
• Their presence and quantity is indicative of patient prognosis
• They are very likely to be the route by which primary tumours spread around the body so resulting in metastatic disease

The new blood test harvests CTCs from patient blood and can be used to provide information regarding the status of a patient’s disease.

A “liquid biopsy” would have a profound impact on understanding the patient’s current cancer status as well as ensuring the optimum treatment is deployed for that individual patient at that particular time.

New Blood Test (currently in trials)