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A personalized prognosis for patients diagnosed with triple-negative breast cancer was the goal of a new study by , researcher at Huntsman Cancer Institute and assistant professor of oncological sciences at the .
Twenty percent of women diagnosed with breast cancer in the United States will learn they have triple-negative breast cancer. That diagnosis means the three most common proteins known to fuel breast cancer growth鈥攅strogen receptor, progesterone receptor, and HER2鈥攁re not present in the tumor. Those patients will not respond to any of the targeted therapies developed to treat breast cancer with those characteristics. After surgery, their only treatment option is chemotherapy. Targeted therapy allows healthy cells to survive, but chemotherapy can kill normal cells when eliminating the cancer cells.
Sixty percent of patients with triple-negative breast cancer will survive more than five years without disease, but four out of ten women will have a rapid recurrence of the disease. There are currently no clinical tests to assess an individual patient鈥檚 prognosis, so all patients receive aggressive chemotherapy that can include up to four chemotherapy drugs and six months of treatment. Varley鈥檚 , recently published in Cancer Research, could change that. 鈥淲e could very accurately predict which patients were going to have long-term disease-free survival and which patients were likely to have recurring disease. This is very exciting because it could be the first clinical test to enable personalized prognosis for triple-negative breast cancer patients,鈥 said Varley.
Varley triple-negative breast cancer patients, whose tumors naturally turned on an immune response, were disease-free for much longer than those who did not. The objective of the new study was to find a way to translate this discovery into a clinical test to determine which patients have an inherently good prognosis and might safely be treated with less aggressive therapy. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 significant because chemotherapy can lead to long-term heart and nerve problems,鈥 Varley noted. 鈥淚f we can understand which patients need aggressive treatment and which patients will likely do well with less aggressive treatment, we could make a big difference in their lives.鈥
鈥淭his is very exciting because it could be the first clinical test to enable personalized prognosis for triple-negative breast cancer patients.鈥
鈥KT Varley, PhD
Varley worked closely on the study with Rachel Stewart, DO, PhD, assistant professor of pathology and laboratory medicine at the 香蕉视频 of Kentucky. They used specimens from patients treated at Huntsman Cancer Institute. The tumor samples were taken more than five years ago, so the researchers could determine how each patient fared in the long term. The next step was developing a way to test for biomarkers of the immune response. The biomarker test was developed using formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissues. This is important because it means this test can be run on tumor biopsy specimens that are routinely collected for breast cancer diagnosis.
The research team is currently applying the test to triple-negative breast cancer patient samples from clinical trials of chemotherapy and immunotherapy. Their next step is to validate that the test can be used to predict prognosis and choose the most effective and safest treatments. They are also investigating whether this test could be used for patients with HER2 positive breast cancer, lung cancer, ovarian cancer, and melanoma because the immune response is similar in those diseases.
鈥淲e鈥檙e working as fast as possible to validate the test so it can benefit patients,鈥 said Varley. 鈥淥ne of my goals is to translate the discoveries we make in basic science and in our genomics research into clinical tests because I know patients are waiting.鈥
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About Huntsman Cancer Institute at the 香蕉视频 of Utah
Huntsman Cancer Institute at the is the National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center for Utah, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, and Wyoming. With a legacy of innovative cancer research, groundbreaking discoveries, and world-class patient care, we are transforming the way cancer is understood, prevented, diagnosed, treated, and survived. Huntsman Cancer Institute focuses on delivering the most advanced cancer healing and prevention through scientific breakthroughs and cutting-edge technology to advance cancer treatments of the future beyond the standard of care today. We have more than 300 open clinical trials and 250 research teams studying cancer. More genes for inherited cancers have been discovered at Huntsman Cancer Institute than at any other cancer center. Our scientists are world-renowned for understanding how cancer begins and using that knowledge to develop innovative approaches to treat each patient鈥檚 unique disease. Huntsman Cancer Institute was founded by Jon M. and Karen Huntsman.