A research has recently revealed that the new blood test could help doctors to treat ovarian cancer patients more effectively.
Researchers from The University of Manchester and The Christie NHS Foundation Trust, both part of Manchester Cancer Research Centre, said the test, which would allow doctors to predict which ovarian cancer patients would respond to particular types of treatment, could be developed and used in hospitals within the next few years.
It would mean medics could see which patients could benefit from blood vessel-targeting drugs - such as bevacizumab - in addition to conventional therapy. Meanwhilehile others who are not going to benefit would be spared the time and side effects associated with having the drug. The test would also help to reduce the cost to the NHS.
The study showed that two particular proteins, Ang1 and Tie2, could be used in combination to predict patient response. Patients with high levels of Ang1 and low levels of Tie2 were most likely to benefit from bevacizumab. Both these proteins are involved in controlling the formation of new blood vessels. Conversely, they found that patients with high levels of both proteins did not benefit from the additional drug.
The study is published in the journal Clinical Cancer Research.
