A blood test that can detect tiny amounts of circulating cancer DNA may be able to identify risk of cancer recurrence and guide precision treatment in bladder cancer following surgery, according to a clinical study led byProfessor Tom Powles from Queen Mary University of London andBarts Health NHS Trust.The findings from the study, published in Nature,may change our understanding of cancer care following surgery.
The study found that patients with urothelial cancer who had a particular cancer DNA marker in their blood following surgery to remove their tumor had a higher likelihood of cancer relapse. These patients could benefit from subsequent treatment with an immunotherapy called atezolizumab.
