Thursday, April 19, 2012

Breast cancer study reclassifies disease into 10 new categories.

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/1164311--breast-cancer-study-reclassifies-disease-into-10-new-categories?bn=1


“This is a major step forward in building the genetic encyclopedia of breast cancer and in the process we’ve learned there are many more subtypes of breast cancer than we imagined,” said Dr. Sam Aparicio, study co-lead author and professor in the department of pathology and laboratory medicine at UBC.
The 10 subtypes of breast cancer are grouped by common genetic features, which correlate with survival.

Meantime, a separate study by a team of Italian researchers has shown that the drug Herceptin, given to women who produce excess quantities of HER2 cells (human epidermal growth factor 2), reduces breast cancer mortality by one third. However, the risk of heart toxicity went up five times for women on the drug, compared with women receiving only standard therapy such as chemotherapy and radiation.

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