Many cancer patients receive chemotherapy and other therapies after surgery to prevent the cancer from coming back. In fact, surgery oftentimes cures these patients and only those patients whose cancer cells have spread to and are hiding in other parts of the body will benefit. A new blood test, called circulating tumor DNA, has been developed that can detect the DNA from hidden cancer cells lurking somewhere in the body. This blood test, which is based on knowing the DNA of the tumor, would be used to select patients for chemotherapy after surgery. The aim of this project is to develop and validate such a test for breast cancer patients whose tumor has been removed at surgery.
The validation of our test will be performed in two Quebec hospitals working together. Avoiding chemotherapy in those patients that have no sign of hidden cancer cells will save costs to the hospital, to society and above all, to the patients that won’t need to suffer its toxicities.
Genome Centre: Génome Québec
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| Alan | Spatz | Optilab Montréal – MUHC |