Scientists identify six types of breast cancer - 2 articles

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Scientists identify six types of breast cancer By Jeremy Laurance, Health

Editor Published: 02 October 2007

 

It is the commonest cancer in Britain, affecting 41,000 women a year – but

not all breast cancers are the same. Yesterday, researchers said they had

identified six types of the disease, with widely differing survival rates. The

finding could help doctors give more accurate prognoses to patients, as well as

targeting them with more specialised treatments.

 

Researchers at the University of Nottingham analysed 25 proteins present in

the breast tissue of cancer patients and clustered them into groups according to

how long the patients survived. They found two of the six groups had

significantly longer survival and one had significantly shorter survival, while

the remaining three fell between these extremes.

 

About 80 per cent of women diagnosed with breast cancer survive at least five

years, with the best chance for those diagnosed early. There are clearly

established treatments for each of the six types, based on hormonal therapy,

treatment with the new drug Herceptin or aggressive chemotherapy. But these

accounted for only 60 per cent of the 1,076 cases of breast cancer analysed.

 

The other 40 per cent of cases could not be classified into one of the six

types and the treatment strategy in these cases was less clear, the researchers

said.

 

Andy Green, senior research fellow at the University of Nottingham, who

presented the findings to the National Cancer Research Institute's annual

conference in Birmingham yesterday, said: " We are very excited by this research.

We know breast cancers are very variable and one of our aims is to use clinical

techniques to distinguish between them. It is the 40 per cent of breast cancers

that we found to be unclassifiable that are the problem because we don't know

what the optimal treatment strategy is for these cancers. It is a bit hit and

miss at the moment. "

 

The best survival was among women with oestrogen-positive breast cancer, which

accounted for three of the six types, where up to 90 per cent of women survived

10 years. The poorest survival was women with HER2-positive breast cancer where

30 per cent died within four years.

 

Dr Green said the research was conducted before the advent of Herceptin, the

breast cancer drug targeted at HER2 positive cancers, which was licensed and

approved for use on the NHS in patients with early breast cancer last year. " I

am sure some, but not all, women treated with Herceptin will have benefited from

it, " he said.

 

In another study at the conference, scientists from the University of

Leicester said they had identified two genes which could cause severe

side-effects in breast cancer patients treated with radiotherapy. Paul Symonds,

who led the research published in the British Journal of Cancer, said

radiotherapy was important but could be devastating when it went wrong.

" Patients can get redness of the skin which may peel off. Later the breast may

shrink and tissues under the skin may become hard and thickened [fibrosis]. Red,

widened blood vessels can appear on the skin. "

 

With the discovery it might be possible to predict which women would react

badly and offer them alternatives. About 8 per cent of women carry the fibrosis

gene and have 15 times the risk of developing thickening of the skin which can

lead to chronic pain, he said.

 

In other research, University of Manchester scientists said they had

identified a gene that triggers breast cancer stem cells, which can result in

recurrence. Robert Clarke said a treatment already licensed for Alzheimer's

disease had been shown to be effective against the gene.

 

Forms of the disease

 

* Luminal group – 40 per cent of total (three types). These are

oestrogen-positive and respond to hormonal treatment (Tamoxifen and newer

aromatase inhibitors). Two of the three have the best survival rates with 90 per

cent of women living at least 10 years. The third is not as good.

 

* Basal group – 13 per cent (two types). These tend to be more aggressive and

need a more aggressive response. They are treated with high-dose chemotherapy.

 

* HER2 positive – 7 per cent (one type). This has the poorest prognosis – 30

per cent of patients died within four years, before the introduction of the new

drug Herceptin.

 

* Unclassified – 40 per cent. These cases are the hardest to treat because the

best treatment is unknown

http://news.independent.co.uk/health/article3018363.ece

 

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Six types of breast cancer found Monday, 01 Oct 2007 17:13

 

Scientists have identified six different types of breast cancer that they

claim could impact on patients' long-term survival and response to treatment.

 

Each class of cancer is distinguishable by the different proteins present in the

cancer tissue and is associated with different survival rates.

 

Presenting the findings at the National Cancer Research Institute (NCRI) Cancer

Conference in Birmingham this afternoon, researchers said the finding could

contribute to doctors being able to give more accurate prognoses for breast

cancer patients by classifying their cancer.

 

It is also hoped it could lead to more specialised treatments.

 

A collaborative team of researchers from a number of UK universities studied

tissue samples from more than 1,000 breast cancer patients.

 

Of the six classes identified, two were associated with longer survival rates

and two with significantly shorter rates.

 

The researchers said that only 60 per cent of breast cancer cases fitted

perfectly into one of the six classes and they are currently verifying the

validity of their finding with a larger sample of tissues.

 

Senior researcher Dr Andy Green said: " Classifying cases of breast cancer in

this way has important implications for the future diagnosis and treatment of

the disease.

 

" Knowing what class of breast cancer a patient has will help doctors to decide

on the best treatments specific to that patient - particularly as the trend

towards customised therapeutics continues. "

 

Commenting on the study, Dr Kat Arney, senior science information officer at

Cancer Research UK, said: " Breast cancer is not just one disease, and different

types of breast cancer need different treatments.

 

" In the future, this classification strategy may help doctors to make better

decisions about how to treat women, so everyone gets the best possible therapy.

There's still more work to be done, as there are more breast cancers that don't

fit into these six categories, but this is an important step along the road to

more effective treatments. "

 

http://www.inthenews.co.uk/news/health/science/six-types-breast-cancer-found-$11\

42351.htm

 

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