This test can predict death risk in breast cancer patients

Method, called MammaPrint, looks for a 70-gene signature

A molecular test can pinpoint which patients are at low risk of death from breast cancer even

20 years after diagnosis and tumour removal, a study has found.

As a result, ‘ultra-low’ risk patients could be treated less aggressively and overtreatment

avoided, leading to fewer toxic effects, researchers said. “This is an important step forward

for personalising care for women with breast cancer,” said Laura J. Esserman, from the

University of California, San Francisco, in the U.S.

“We can now test small node-negative breast cancers, and if they are in the ultra-low risk

category, we can tell women that they are highly unlikely to die of their cancers and do not

need aggressive treatment, including radiation after lumpectomy,” said Ms. Esserman.

First evidence

This is the first evidence that it is possible to run a diagnostic test at the time of diagnosis and

identify ultra-low risk tumours.

“This is an exciting advance because approximately 20-25% of tumours diagnosed today may

be ultra-low risk,” said Ms. Esserman.

In the study published in the journal JAMA Oncology , researchers sought to determine

whether a 70-gene test could accurately and reliably identify tumours with indolent, or slowgrowing,

behaviour to assess the risk of cancer recurrence up to 20 years after diagnosis.

The same test had shown last year that nearly half of early-stage breast cancer patients, who

met traditional criteria for high risk, could safely skip chemotherapy based on the biological

make-up of their tumours.

Researchers disclosed that the test, called Mamma Print, tests for a 70-gene signature that can

predict whether cancer will recur in early-stage breast cancer patients.

Source : The Hindu