Blood test shows when skin cancer at most vulnerable

SCIENTISTS have created a test that reveals how active a patient's skin cancer is so medics can pinpoint the best time to target it.

- By Chris Riches

The Christie NHS Foundation Trust and the Cancer Research UK National Biomarker Centre in Manchester hope this experimental blood test could help people with stage 4 melanoma live longer.

Their ground-breaking DyNAMIC trial looks for tiny fragments of DNA coming from the cancer.

By carefully monitoring the level of disease activity in the blood, doctors can identify the best time to start and stop the drugs as treatment breaks can prevent cancer cells becoming resistant to medicine and help reduce side effects.

Dr Rebecca Lee, consultant oncologist and clinician at The Christie, said: "Cancer treated with targeted therapy can be thought of as two armies of cells; those that are sensitive to the treatment and those that are resistant, which fight for nutrients in order to grow.