A simple technique of counting tumour cells circulating in the blood of a lung cancer patient could help determine the disease's aggressiveness and provide better treatment options, UK scientists have claimed. The team looked at the number of circulating tumour cells (CTCs) in blood samples of 101 patients with a non small cell lung cancer before and after they had undergone one cycle of chemotherapy. They found that patients who had five or more CTCs were much less likely to survive the disease. "We could now look at the genetic faults that are behind the disease and start to develop drugs that target these," Dr Lesley Walker, director of Cancer Research UK, which carried out the research said.
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