Researchers have discovered how to identify women with breast cancer who are at risk for having the cancer spread.
This is quite a significant step, because currently, there’s no reliable way to see what cancers will spread and what won’t, and that means it’s hard to say which patients should be treated more aggressively and which can be treated less aggressively

Researchers have discovered how to identify women with breast cancer who are at risk for having the cancer spread. This is quite a significant step, because currently, there’s no reliable way to see what cancers will spread and what won’t, and that means it’s hard to say which patients should be treated more aggressively and which can be treated less aggressively

“There were no lumps, it was only in the ducts of the breast.” Just over three years ago, Cassandra Albert was diagnosed with breast cancer. She eventually underwent a bilateral mastectomy--both breasts were removed--and had chemo for six months, after a breast cancer recurrence. “I feel like I’m on top of the world, I feel like I’m cured,” says Cassandra. Given what she had done, she has reason to be confident.

For many women with early stage breast cancer, the truth is, there’s no sure-fire way to say which will stay tumor-free after treatment, and which will have their cancer return.
That’s why the ability to identify patients who have a favorable prognosis could help doctors avoid unnecessary treatments, and identify those who need more aggressive treatment.

Dr. Bhoomi Mehrotia is a breast cancer expert at Long Island Jewish Medical Center, New York. He says, “It’s a grey area in those patients whether or not they need further therapy beyond the surgery and the radiation therapy that they would ordinarily have.” Now, new research in the British journal The Lancet examined women with cancer that had not spread to their lymph nodes, and who had not received chemo or hormonal therapy.

After eight years, 33% or one-third was found to have cancer that had spread. The investigators analyzed the breast cancer tumors, and found 76 genes that traveled together which could predict relapse. The researchers found this group of genes was highly accurate--93% accurate-- in predicting who would develop distant spread of the tumor within five years.

Most of these patients will never have a recurrence of their breast cancer but there is a small percentage that will--either in the breast or elsewhere. These are the women with negative lymph nodes who would indeed benefit from chemo or hormonal therapy.

“So it’s a start, it is a start in utilizing new tools in molecular biology and trying to take it to the clinic and have it really clinically relevant and hopefully will lead to greater rates of cure and less of unnecessary treatment if possible,” says Dr. Mehrotia. It was treatment that was essential for Cassandra. “I feel wonderful, I do,” Cassandra now says.

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