Genetic Research May Benefit Breast Cancer Patients
New research suggests that patients with breast cancer may not need extensive and superfluous treatment. The research, which was undertaken by scientists at Aberdeen University, highlighted a pair of genes capable of separating the cells able to respond to common drugs in the chemotherapy class from those that can’t. From this, the hope is now that more individualised treatments can be developed.
The team of researchers described how they examined breast cancer cells, incapable of responding to one particular drug – Docetaxel - in order to establish the presence of a precise genetic constitution that would explain this.
Docetaxel sits among the most powerful breast cancer treatments, but, in some patients, it is simply ineffective.
While the breast cancer cells used were lab-produced, the next stage in the research will involve the participation of patients with this disease.
Highlighting the significance of this new research, the team’s Dr Andy Schofield said: "For the first time we have found two genes that identify which breast cancer cells respond to chemotherapy and which do not respond”. He added: "We hope that in the future this will mean that before we treat patients with breast cancer with docetaxel, we can predict whether the drug will work or not, using a very simple test."
Breast Cancer Care’s Rachel Rawson welcomed the news, but stressed there was still more work to be done. “We are still a long way from fully understanding the complex role that genetics plays in the treatment of breast cancer, and how this interacts with or is mediated by other factors”, she said.
"Breast Cancer Care welcomes any research that furthers our knowledge in this area. However this is initial research that has only been tested in a laboratory setting. Further studies are needed to fully determine how these findings can be translated into the clinical setting and offer practical benefits for people with breast cancer."
In excess of 44,000 new instances of breast cancer are diagnosed in the UK each year, of which the majority are in people over the age of 50.
Source – Pharmaceutical International’s Health Reporter
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