A study reveals that focusing on mutations can stop breast cancer from spreading.
Breast cancer Oncology According to a groundbreaking study released on Friday, certain breast cancers’ development may be slowed down by quickly altering treatment after identifying a certain genetic mutation.
Breast cancer tumors cells can become resistant to the drugs given to the patient when they experience mutations over time.
French-led researchers focused on a blood mutation known as bESR1mut for their most recent study, which was published in the Lancet Oncology journal.
To discover the mutation, the researchers used a promising and still-novel technique called a liquid biopsy.
Without the need for a sample of breast tissue, which is typically obtained by a substantially more invasive conventional biopsy, it is possible to study the contents of tumor’s
In this case, the bESR1mut mutation was identified using liquid biopsy, which involved collecting blood samples from patients with metastatic breast cancer.
The researchers found that bESR1mut levels were higher in the blood of around a quarter of more than a thousand breast cancer patients in 83 hospitals throughout France.
One hundred seventy of these patients were split into two groups.
Breast cancer Oncology stop breast cancer from spreading.
One group received the same treatment as before, while the other was switched to one that also included fulvestrant, a hormone medication that may be able to target mutations like the bESR1mut, according to earlier studies.
According to the study, cancer in those using fulvestrant either stopped or advanced less quickly than in the control group by a few months.
This is the first prospective randomised trial, according to the researchers, “demonstrating that early therapeutic targeting of bESR1mut generates substantial clinical benefit.”
Beyond bESR1mut, they claimed that this method, which makes use of a liquid biopsy to find a mutation and then quickly adjusts medication, could act as a model for future treatment methods.
Only a subtype of breast cancer with an estrogen-receptive tumour was examined in the study.
Breast cancer Oncology This made these tumours more susceptible to fulvestrant, which prevented the impact of oestrogen on cancer cells.
Around 2,3 million women were diagnosed with breast cancer in 2020 alone, and 685 thousand of them passed away, according to the World Health Organization.
According to World Health Organization estimates, 7.8 million individuals will be coping with breast cancer by the end of 2020, making it the most common cancer worldwide.
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