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Time of India

Breakthrough Cancer test allows more Breast Cancer patients to skip Chemotherapy

For decades, the diagnosis of breast cancer meant enduring the nightmare of chemotherapy—weeks or months of baldness, nausea, exhaustion, and terror. But a change is happening in cancer treatment, as new research enables thousands of women to avoid chemotherapy's worst effects without endangering their survival prospects. Central to this revolution is the MammaPrint test , a sophisticated genetic test that looks at the activity of 70 genes within breast cancer. The test, now confirmed by a milestone study of 6,700 women, can reliably determine whether a woman's early-stage breast cancer is likely to recur. For women whose test indicates low risk of recurrence, chemotherapy can be avoided. "Understanding the genetics of a given cancer means that your physician has a better sense of what is going on in your unique case," says Dr. Laura Esserman, one of the nation's top breast-cancer specialists. "We can now comfortably say to many women that surgery and radiation, and then hormone therapy, will be sufficient." The MammaPrint test is an option for women with stage I or II breast cancer, including those who have invasive tumors less than 5 centimeters in size, whether the cancer is estrogen-receptor positive or negative. Historically, treatment decisions were made based on tumor size, hormone receptor status, and whether the cancer has spread to the lymph nodes. But genetic risk scores are turning the model on its head. Live Events The research discovered that almost half of women with early-stage breast cancer possess a low genetic risk of recurrence. Astoundingly, 20% of patients who were once deemed "high risk" according to standard measures were deemed "low risk" by the test—so they didn't need chemotherapy and its brutal side effects. Rather, they can be treated with hormone therapy in the form of tamoxifen or anastrozole, which are pills to be taken every day for many years. Although hormone therapy is not without side effects, it is significantly less debilitating than chemotherapy. For women diagnosed with breast cancer, this advance is a source of hope and reassurance. "The MammaPrint study results can equal an easier road to beating cancer," states Dr. Esserman. As science continues to unravel the genetic secrets of cancer, the days of one-size-fits-all treatment may finally be numbered—ushering in a new era of personalized, compassionate care.