The level of tumor DNA circulating in the blood would determine the intensity of treatment necessary to treat melanoma.
- The higher the tumor DNA level, the greater the chance of successful aggressive tumor treatment.
- This observation is valid when the treatment is administered as first intention, but in the case of a second administration, the level of circulating tumor DNA does not make it possible to determine the chances of success.
- This discovery gives researchers hope that they can increase the survival rate of patients suffering from melanoma.
The choice of treatment is a key issue in the care of patients with cancer. American researchers have found that a biomarker makes it possible to more accurately determine the dose of treatment to be administered in the case of melanoma. The results were published in the journal Clinical Cancer Research. “Selecting the right treatment for melanoma is very complex, and it depends on a number of factors, including the characteristics of the tumor and how it has spread through the body”, explains Elin Gray, director of research.
Determine the effectiveness of immunotherapy
The level of circulating tumor DNA is one of the indicators of cancer: it is the DNA of cancer cells that circulates in the blood. In this research, Elin Gray and her team performed blood tests on 125 patients with metastatic melanoma before they received immunotherapy. They noted the tumor DNA levels circulating in each of them. Their research shows that the higher the rate, the greater the chance that aggressive treatment for the tumor will be successful. This observation is valid when the treatment is administered as first intention, but in the case of a second administration, the level of circulating tumor DNA does not make it possible to determine the chances of success of the immunotherapy.
A serious cancer
This discovery gives researchers hope that they can increase the survival rate of patients suffering from melanoma. “We have struggled to find new drugs and new therapies to treat melanoma, but if we can prove that a certain drug can work for certain tumors, it could allow us to use existing treatments in a more more targeted and more precise”points out Elin Gray.
Melanoma is a rare but serious skin cancer because there is a significant risk of metastasis. 10,000 new cases are detected each year in France. The first stage of treatment is surgery, then patients usually receive a immunotherapy or chemotherapy, or even radiotherapy.
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