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Gene Test Could Reduce Unnecessary Treatment For Women With Breast Cancer (pp 340, 362)
July 30, 2003In this week's issue of THE LANCET, US researchers describe how gene expression profiles could determine whether or not women with breast cancer would respond to docetaxel treatment. Women who are likely to be resistant to the drug could be given alternative treatment.
Chemotherapy or hormonal treatment after surgery for breast cancer is crucial in reducing mortality. Patients react differently to chemotherapy drugs and some women are resistant to treatment. However, since there is currently no way to distinguish between women who might respond and those who probably will not, all eligible patients are treated similarly.
Jenny Chang and colleagues from Baylor College of Medicine, Texas, USA, proposed that gene expression profiles might indicate a patient's response to docetaxel, one of the newest and most widely used chemotherapy drugs. They took biopsy samples from primary breast tumours in 24 patients before treatment, and then measured tumour response to docetaxel.
Different gene expression profiles were associated with different responses to the drug. Tumours that were sensitive to treatment had higher expression of genes involved in the cell cycle, protein transport, and protein modification, whereas resistant tumours showed enhanced expression of some transcriptional and signal transduction genes.
Dr Chang comments: "This study helps to define the molecular portrait of cancers that respond or not to docetaxel, one of the most active agents in breast cancer treatment. When validated, this type of molecular profiling could have important implications in defining the optimum treatment for individual patients, and reduce unproductive treatment, unnecessary toxicity, and overall cost. "
[See Commentary, page 340]
Lancet
Breast Cancer News and Current Breast Cancer Events RSSM. D. Anderson study finds change in HER2 status after treatment with Herceptin
Researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center have discovered that when treated with Herceptin prior to surgery, 50 percent of HER2 positive, breast cancer patients showed no signs of disease at the time of surgery.
M. D. Anderson study finds racial disparities in radiation therapy rates for breast cancer
Black women are less likely than white women to receive radiation therapy after a lumpectomy, the standard of care for early stage breast cancer, according to a new study by researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center.
New nano device detects immune system cell signaling
Scientists have detected previously unnoticed chemical signals that individual cells in the immune system use to communicate with each other over short distances.
CSHL scientists identify new drug target against virulent type of breast cancer
Tumor cells in a particular subset of breast cancer patients churn out too much of a protein called ErbB2 -- also often called HER2 -- which drives the cells to proliferate unchecked. Patients unlucky enough to be in this group -- about one in four -- have poorer prognoses and clinical outcomes than those who don't.
Dense tissue promotes aggressive cancers
New research may explain why breast cancer tends to be more aggressive in women with denser breast tissue. Breast cancer cells grown in dense, rigid surroundings step up their invasive activities, Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center investigators report in the Sept. 9 issue of Current Biology.
Women exposed to negative life events at greater risk of breast cancer: BGU study
Happiness and optimism may play a role against breast cancer while adverse life events can increase the risk of developing the disease.
Hormone replacement therapy improves sleep, sexuality and joint pain in older women
One of the world's longest and largest trials of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) has found that post-menopausal women on HRT gain significant improvements in quality of life.
Positive thinking may protect against breast cancer
Feelings of happiness and optimism play a positive role against breast cancer. Research published today in the open access journal BMC Cancer suggests that while staying positive has a protective role, adverse life events such as the loss of a parent or close relative, divorce or the loss of a spouse can increase a woman's risk of developing the disease.
Anti-tumor effects are enhanced by inhibiting 2 pathways rather than 1
Two independent research groups have found that simultaneous inhibition of two signaling pathways resulted in substantially enhanced antitumor effects in mouse models of prostate and breast cancer. In an accompany commentary, Steven Grant, at Virginia Commonwealth University Health Science Center, Richmond, discusses the clinical importance of these studies and highlights some of the questions that still need to be answered.
Why a common treatment for prostate cancer ultimately fails
Some of the drugs given to many men during their fight against prostate cancer can actually spur some cancer cells to grow, researchers have found. The findings were published online this week in a pair of papers in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
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