What we currently callbreast cancershould be considered asten different diseases, according to a revolutionary study just published by the magazineNature, considered the most extensive on this pathology carried out to date. The new classification, based on the genetic fingerprint of tumors, could improve treatment by allowing the drugs to be tailored to each case, increasing survival rates.
Analyzing the genetics of tumor cells from2,000 patients, researchers from the Universities of Cambridge (United Kingdom) and British Columbia (Canada) were able to distinguish a dozen categories, each of them with rcommon genetic and molecular assumptions, which are also related to different survival rates. Among them, categories 2 and 5 appear to have around a 40% chance of a 15-year survival. And the 3 and 4 have about 75% survival in the same period. Regarding therapies, at the moment there is only one specific for one of the ten types of breast cancers identified: Herceptin, which is already used in the clinic. For the rest, “standard” therapies such as chemotherapy or radiotherapy are still used. However, the newly identified genes could serve as a target for developing new treatments.
“It is a big step towards creatinga genetic encyclopedia of breast cancer-which today is an “umbrella term” that encompasses several pathologies-, and during the research we have learned that there are many more subtypes than we imagined, “said Sam Aparicio, co-author of the study.? In essence we have taken the leap of knowing What does a breast tumor look like under the microscope to know its molecular anatomy exactly, and that, finally, will allow us to know what drugs it responds to?, adds his colleague Carlos Caldas.
