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Your support makes all the difference.<\/strong>Read more<\/p>\n Offering a combination of genetic tests to people with a \u201cvery complex\u201d blood cancer could accurately predict if the disease is likely to come back within 18 months of treatment, a study has found.<\/p>\n The method picks up \u201chidden risks\u201d that traditional tests may miss, and could potentially benefit thousands of people in the UK with multiple myeloma, researchers said.<\/p>\n Multiple myeloma happens when the bone marrow makes abnormal white blood cells, known as plasma cells, causing symptoms such as bone pain, headaches and muscle weakness.<\/p>\n It affects around 33,000 people in the UK, with about 6,300 new cases every year.<\/p>\n The disease is considered incurable, and while there are treatments that puts the cancer into remission, many patients relapse, usually within 18 months.<\/p>\n Researchers at the Institute of Cancer Research<\/a> (ICR) suggest offering traditional DNA<\/a> tests alongside new RNA<\/a> gene expression tests could detect patients who are at risk of early relapse.<\/p>\n DNA profiling is currently being used in specialist cancer centres and clinical trials.<\/p>\n It looks for genetic mutations in myeloma cells, which can determine how aggressive the disease is.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the newer gene expression tests check how active certain genes are in cancer cells by measuring RNA, a type of molecule that carries instructions from DNA to make proteins.<\/p>\n Both tests are usually done using bone marrow samples.<\/p>\n