Scientists may have found a way to find out if breast cancer will come back

The genetic and molecular composition of bad tumors contains clues to the course of the disease in women, including the likelihood of recurrence after treatment, and over what time period, according to a study funded by Cancer Research UK published this week in the journal Nature.

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Scientists from Cambridge University and Stanford University have examined the genetic modifications of bad cancer tumors in nearly 2,000 women and monitored their progress over 20 years, including the return of cancer . They used this information to create a statistical tool to better predict if and when a woman's bad cancer could recur.

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"Breast cancer treatments have improved dramatically in recent years, but unfortunately for some women, their bad cancer is returning and spreading, becoming incurable. For some, this may take many years later, but it is impossible to accurately predict who is at risk of recurrence and who is quite clear, "said Carlos Caldas, professor and principal investigator at Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute. .

"In this study, we investigated the molecular subtypes of bad cancer in order to more accurately identify people who may relapse and discover new methods of treatment," said Caldas.

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Previous research by this group has revealed that bad cancer is not a disease, but rather 11 molecular subgroups. These subgroups have distinct clinical trajectories that vary considerably, even between tumors that seem to resemble each other. These trajectories can help doctors determine the likelihood of a cancer return.

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"We have shown that the molecular nature of a woman's bad cancer determines the progression of her disease, not only for the first five years, but also later, even if it reappears," said Oscar Rueda, first author of the document. Principal Investigator at the UK Cancer Research Institute in Cambridge. "We hope that our research tool can be turned into a test that doctors can easily use to guide treatment recommendations."

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