CTVNews.ca Staff Published Wednesday, November 12, 2014 6:30PM EST Last Updated Wednesday, November 12, 2014 8:47PM EST
Canadian researchers have developed a new genetic test to identify prostate cancer patients who are at highest risk of recurrence after surgery or radiotherapy.
By analyzing DNA from diagnostic biopsies of men who underwent either surgery or image-guided radiotherapy to treat their prostate cancer, the researchers came up with a test that can determine with greater precision which men will need extra treatment, such as chemotherapy, to ensure that the cancer is eradicated.
The findings were published online Tuesday in the Lancet Oncology journal.
This genetic test could increase cure rates in intermediate- to high-risk men by preventing progression to this metastatic spread of prostate cancer, Dr. Robert Bristow, a clinician-scientist at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre in Toronto, said in a news release.
The test is currently still in research mode, Bristow told The Canadian Press. The hope is that the test will be validated, approved by Health Canada and ready for use in five years.
Bristow is the co-lead of the study, along with Dr. Paul Boutros, an investigator at the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research.
Hypoxia, or low oxygen, is a known factor is the spread of prostate cancer. The newly developed test can identify the cancers oxygen content, as well as the tumours abnormal genetic characteristics to determine which patients are at greatest risk of their prostate cancer returning, the study says.
The study showed that, among patients whose tumours had low levels of genetic changes and low hypoxia, the cancer recurrence rate was lower than seven per cent after five years.
Men with high levels of genetic changes and high hypoxia had much worse outcomes. More than 50 per cent of those patients had a recurrence of cancer.
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Genetic test predicts prostate cancer recurrence