Australian scientists have developed new blood tests to help treat invasive prostate cancer.

This article is for the original translational medicine network, please indicate the source: Cathy introduction: prostate cancer (PCa) is a common malignant tumor in elderly men. In Europe and the United States, the incidence rate of PCa has exceeded lung cancer.is affected by many factors such as aging, changing diet structure and improving detection level in China. Its incidence rate is increasing year by year.recently, Australian scientists have developed a simple blood test method, which can guide the treatment of prostate cancer patients.prostate cancer is an androgen dependent tumor. Castration resistant prostate cancer (mcrpc) refers to prostate cancer that is still ineffective after androgen removal by surgery or drugs.recently, researchers from the school of clinical sciences of Peter Mack and Monash University cooperated with Chris O'Brien's life home and California biotechnology company predicine to apply a new liquid biopsy technique to patients with metastatic castration resistant prostate cancer (mcrpc) to guide the treatment of patients with prostate cancer.the study was led by Dr. Arun Azad, Department of oncology, Peter McCullen cancer center and published in the European Journal of Urology entitled "combined cell free DNA and RNA profiling of the androgen receptor: clinical utility of a new multianalysis liquid biology assay for metastatic prostate In Australia, nearly 20000 men are diagnosed with prostate cancer each year, accounting for a quarter of all male cancer diagnoses.and mcrpc is the most aggressive type of prostate cancer, causing more than 3000 deaths each year.metastatic prostate cancer is a cancer that has spread beyond the prostate. If the condition continues to deteriorate, even if the patient starts treatment and deprives the cancer of androgen, such as testosterone, it will still form castration resistance.Professor Arun Azad, a medical oncologist at Peter Mack, co-author of the study, explained: "although advances in treatment strategies have significantly improved the quality of life of patients with mcrpc, there is an urgent need to identify biomarkers for prediction and prognosis."in this study, only 10 ml of blood was needed to detect circulating DNA and RNA released by cancer cells at the same time, thus providing important insights into the composition of cancer and the most likely treatment.these blood testing techniques, also known as liquid biopsies, have become a minimally invasive alternative to routine biopsy for the analysis of prostate cancer genomes.studies have shown that there is a strong consistency between liquid biopsy and tumor biopsy, and also describe the common genomic complexity in mcrpc."in this study, the researchers used predicine's acellular DNA and acellular RNA second-generation sequencing liquid biopsy technology to detect whether there were changes in the androgen receptor (AR) gene in mcrpcs.they used this method to detect the blood samples of mcrpc patients in Australia before treatment, and the results accurately detected ar changes in more than half of the patients.Azad said: "we found that the abnormal AR gene detected in the blood of patients with advanced prostate cancer is associated with adverse reactions and reduced survival rate of existing drug treatment," which can be used to better guide the treatment of advanced prostate cancer."such a simple detection technology can detect AR gene abnormalities, help doctors determine the best treatment method, better design innovative clinical trials, and help communicate with patients and nursing staff around the reality and expected results.the new liquid biopsy technology of predicine is also more referential than previous tests, because it analyzes two genetic materials - DNA and RNA, so as to have a more in-depth and accurate understanding of AR abnormalities in cancer. Ref.: [1] Heidi fettke et al. Combined cell-free DNA and RNA profiling of the androgen receptor: clinical utility of a new multianalysis liquid biology assay for metastatic prostate cancer, European Urology (2020). DOI: 10.1016/j.eururo.2020.03.044 [2] [3] [4] recommended reading: fighting the epidemic situation, translational medicine network content team series report: [cell sub] German prospective study found that intestinal microbial movement can predict the risk of type 2 diabetes [industry news] cancer AI start-up nuclear raised $6.5 million in round a financing [Nature sub] new progress: abdominal fat Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Research: prevent cholesterol storage, can prevent the growth of pancreatic cancer cells