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Gene testing can predict risk of breast cancer death
Researchers have now developed a molecular test for women with breast cancer that can predict the risk of premature death, even 20 years after diagnosis and subsequent tumor removal. As a result, affected patients could be treated less aggressively.
Researchers at the University of California found in their study that a molecular test is able to predict which patients with breast cancer have a very low risk of dying from their disease. This prediction is reliable for a period of up to twenty years. The physicians published the results of their study in the journal "JAMA Oncology".
Breast cancer threatens the health and lives of many women worldwide. Researchers have now developed a gene test that can predict whether ill women will die of recurrent breast cancer within the next twenty years. (Image: WavebreakMediaMicro / fotolia.com) Testing can avoid over-treatment and women can avoid toxic effects
The current test can predict the likelihood of death from breast cancer for up to twenty years after breast cancer diagnosis and subsequent tumor removal, the researchers say. As a result, patients with a low risk can be treated less aggressively and so-called over-treatment avoided. This also results in less negative toxic effects, explain the experts. The results of the study are an important step in the individual care of women with breast cancer, explains the author. Laura Esserman from the University of California.
Test should identify low-risk patients
With the new test, we can save women with a low risk of death from breast cancer from aggressive treatments (such as radiation), the researchers explain. It is possible to perform the test at the time of diagnosis to thereby identify patients with very low risk tumors. About 20 to 25 percent of the tumors diagnosed today fall into this category, says dr. Esserman.
Can a gene test predict the likelihood of dying from breast cancer??
In their current research, the researchers attempted to determine whether a so-called 70-gene test can accurately and reliably identify tumors with indolent or slow-growing behavior. The test should then be used to assess the risk of death from cancer until twenty years after diagnosis, say the experts. The same test has already shown over the past year that it allows nearly half of early-stage breast cancer patients to skip chemotherapy based on the biological composition of their tumors, the authors add.
The test is intended to predict the long-term risk of death from breast cancer
The so-called MammaPrint test examines the signature of 70 genes to predict whether breast cancer patients will develop cancer again, the researchers say. In the current analysis, clinicians sought to determine if they could predict the risk of death from breast cancer over a twenty-year period, when those affected had almost no risk for metastatic progress.
Physicians examined nearly 1,800 women
A total of 1,780 lymph node-negative patients with tumors of approximately three centimeters in diameter were examined. The patients were divided into two different groups. One group received a so-called adjuvant therapy, which should suppress the recurrent formation of tumors. The other group served as a control group. All participating women were surgically removed from their tumors.
Scientists create medical profile of 652 women
The researchers then used the removed tissue to profile 652 women, of whom 311 had received tamoxifen and 339 had no therapy at all. The majority of these women (79 percent) had mastectomies and a lymph node removal behind them, add the physicians.
Gen-Test worked reliably and found 98 women at a very low risk
The current test classified 42 percent of the participants as high-risk patients. 58 percent of women were assigned a low risk, the researchers say. Patients at low risk had a 95% survival rate at five years. However, many died later of their disease, say the experts. The test classified 15 percent (98 women) of the cases as having very low risk. Such women had an excellent prognosis, whether or not they used tamoxifen for two years, the scientists explain. The results suggest that the gene test could in future help physicians determine the course of treatment. (As)