Gene breakthrough to spare thousands of breast cancer patients from chemo

Chemotherapy causes crippling side-effects

A REVOLUTION in breast cancer treatment will spare thousands of women from the ordeal of chemotherapy, according to scientists carrying out a landmark trial which involves patients undergoing a genetic test shortly after being diagnosed with cancer.

This determines how aggressive the cancer is, whether chemotherapy is needed and if tumours are even likely to respond to the debilitating treatment.

Researchers from University College London, who are behind the trial, say the test could allow up to 5,200 patients avoid chemotherapy each year.

Chemotherapy is the mainstay of cancer treatment and it is given to approximately 16,000 breast cancer patients in England every year.

But it causes crippling side-effects, including exhaustion, infections, sickness and hair loss, which are usually far worse than symptoms of cancer itself.

Many patients say they never fully recover and it can lead to heart damage, leukaemia – a type of blood cancer – and in some cases, death.

Researchers believe the majority of patients don’t benefit from chemotherapy and would be just as well taking daily oestrogen-reducing tablets, which have far fewer side-effects.

The trial, which was launched in January, is funded by Britain’s National Health Service NHS and is overseen by scientists at UCL, Cambridge University and Warwick University’s Clinical Trials Unit. It involves 4,500 patients. Called Optima, it is the first of its kind to measure how well chemotherapy will work for a patient – or ‘chemotherapy sensitivity’.

The early findings will be presented next week at the National Cancer Research Institute’s Conference, the UK’s largest cancer conference.

The test, called Prosigna, is carried out by a machine which measures the activity of 50 genes taken from a small sample of a breast cancer tumour.

Each patient is given a percentage score out of 100 based on how aggressive their cancer is and whether chemotherapy would prove effective. Chemotherapy works by killing fast-growing cells so, in theory, is only worthwhile in patients with aggressive, fast-growing cancers.

The trial will run for six years, during which time researchers will compare the survival rates of patients treated with chemotherapy with those only given tablets.

If the test is found to be safe and cost effective – as the researchers expect – it will be rolled out across the NHS.

They also calculate it would save the health service £17million (€19million) a year from not administering chemotherapy, which costs an average of £4,000 (€4,500) a course.

Scientists are hoping to make the test even more accurate so it can enable more women avoid chemotherapy.