Breast Cancer Study Could Change Treatment
Scientists Reclassify Breast Cancer Into 10 New Categories, Which Could Lead to Better Treatments
By Peter RussellWebMD Health News
Reviewed by Sheena Meredith, MD
April 18, 2012 — Doctors might one day be able to predict survival more accurately in women with breast cancer after reclassifying the disease into 10 new categories based on the genetic fingerprint of a tumor.
Scientists behind the latest research state the discovery amounts to a rewriting of the rule book on breast cancer and will grant more individually tailored treatment options for women with the disease.
A Visual Guide to Breast Cancer
The research, published in the journal Nature, is the largest global gene study of breast cancer tissue ever performed, and the culmination of decades of research into the disease.
A team at Cancer Research U.K.’s Cambridge Research Institute, in collaboration with the B.C. Cancer Agency in Vancouver, Canada, examined the DNA and RNA of 2,000 tumor samples taken from women diagnosed with breast cancer between five and 10 years ago.
Instead of analyzing these tumor samples under a microscope, they examined their genetic profile, hunting for genetic mutations that drive breast tumor development. The analysis uncovered several new breast cancer genes behind the disease, which the researchers state will be potential targets for the development of new types of drugs.
It also revealed the relationship between these genes and known cell activities that control cell growth and division. This could pinpoint how these gene mutations cause cancer, by disrupting important cell processes.
Individually Tailored Medication
The scientists state their analysis has granted them to reclassify breast cancer into 10 new categories based on gene activity rather than the current tests done in laboratories, which look for the presence of indicators such as estrogen receptor (ER) or the cell surface receptor HER2. The researchers state this new classification could change the way medication is tailored to treat women with breast cancer.
“We’ve drilled down into the fundamental detail of the biological causes of breast cancer in a comprehensive genetic study,” states one of the researchers, Carlos Caldas, MD, a professor at the University of Cambridge. “Based on our results we have reclassified breast cancer into 10 types, making breast cancer an umbrella term for an even greater number of diseases.
“Essentially we have moved from knowing what a breast tumor looks like under a microscope to pinpointing its molecular anatomy — and eventually we will know which drugs it will respond to.”
“This research will not affect women diagnosed with breast cancer today. But in the future, breast cancer patients will receive treatment targeted to the genetic fingerprint of their tumor,” Caldas says.
The researchers state the next stage will be to discover how tumors in each subgroup behave — for example, do they grow or spread quickly?
Commenting on the study, Julia Wilson, PhD, head of research at Breakthrough Breast Cancer in the U.K., states in a statement: “This is incredibly exciting research, which has the potential to change the face of breast cancer; from how we diagnose and treat it, to how we follow it up afterwards. In essence the entire patient journey could change.
“This study is another important building block in our goal for women to receive personalized, tailor-made treatments specific to their particular type of breast cancer, rather than just a one-size-fits-all treatment approach.”
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Submited at Thursday, April 19th, 2012 at 4:00 pm on Uncategorized by chuck
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