Private MD News

Genetic factors applied for new breast cancer treatment

Category: Ovarian

Research from the Cancer Genome Atlas - a major government project that studies how DNA relates to 20 kinds of cancer - suggests that therapies for ovarian cancer could be utilized for one of the most deadly of forms of breast cancer they've identified. These findings, based on examinations on breast tumors in more than 800 women, appear in the journal Nature. Someday, researchers say, they could lead to new treatments for individuals whose blood tests for cancer biomarkers screen positive.

"There are certain mutations you can find across cancers in different organs," Eric Topol, a professor at the Scripps Research Institute who did not contribute to the study, told Bloomberg Businessweek. "This is a real transition point, and we have to move toward more sequencing to give patients the best shot toward curing their cancer."

According to The New York Times, it could take years to parlay these findings into real treatments for people who have received poor outcomes from cancer blood tests. Numerous new drug treatments will need to be tailored for treatment strategies that are more focused on individuals.