Forbes: Blood Test Offers An Amazing View Of Metastatic Prostate Cancer Cells
An article published by Forbes discusses advances in liquid biopsy technologies that could be easier, less risky and less costly than undergoing tumor biopsies.
The idea of a liquid biopsy is to evaluate cells, DNA or other material that are circulating in the patient’s blood and determine the types of cancer mutations present. This information can be used to match the patient with a therapy.
Because liquid biopsies are done through a simple blood sample, the test can be run over and over to confirm the therapy is still working or to see early signs of therapeutic resistance.
The article quotes Dr. Murali Prahalad, president and CEO of Epic Sciences:
“With our platform, we can evaluate any circulating tumor cell for genetic changes,” Prahalad said. “By looking at genetic material taken from individual cells from a spreading tumor, we get a different type of information that reflects the heterogeneous nature of real tumors,” he emphasized.