CONTACTStaffCAREER OPPORTUNITIESADVERTISE WITH USPRIVACY POLICYPRIVACY PREFERENCESTERMS OF USELEGAL NOTICE
© 2024 Pride Publishing Inc.
All Rights reserved
All Rights reserved
By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Private Policy and Terms of Use.
A first-of-its-kind genetic test will soon be available to help women with breast cancer make one of their most crucial decisions--whether to undergo the rigors of chemotherapy. Genomic Health, a Silicon Valley biotech company, said it has identified nearly two dozen genes that, taken together, can predict with a high degree of accuracy the likelihood that tumors will return in women whose breast cancer was caught at an early stage. Currently, doctors predict the chances of a relapse in pretty much the same way they have been doing it for almost a century--by looking at the patient's age, the size of the tumor, and the tumor's aggressiveness. If the chances of recurrence are seen as very low based on the gene test, a woman may opt to not endure the vomiting, hair loss, and high cost of chemotherapy. But if the odds of the cancer coming back are high, she may view chemotherapy as the difference between life and death. "For the women in that highest group, it makes their decision so much easier," said Melody Cobleigh, a breast cancer researcher at Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke's Medical Center in Chicago. "For women in the lowest group, they'll still agonize." The biotechnology company's research--done with the National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project--was outlined Thursday at a breast cancer conference in San Antonio. Genomic Health researchers analyzed tumor samples from nearly 700 women involved in a 1980s cancer study to develop the genetic screening method. The researchers used their findings to create a point system to express escalating chances of recurrence within 10 years. Genomic Health found that by using their screening method, just over half of the women in its sample group fell into the low-risk category. Their determination was supported by the medical records of these patients: the average recurrence rate among these women following surgery and treatment with tamoxifen was about 7%. At the other end of the scale, 27% of the sample was determined to be at high risk of recurrence based on the genetic test. The medical records of these women showed that about 30% developed new breast cancer within 10 years of treatment. In the intermediate-risk group, the 10-year recurrence rate averaged about 14%. Genomic Health chief executive Randy Scott says that by using a scoring system, his company's test could give women a more individualized prognosis. "What we'll be able to provide is not just that you are low-risk, medium-risk, or high-risk," he said. " Scott said his company plans to make the test available to newly diagnosed cancer patients in early 2004.
Want more breaking equality news & trending entertainment stories?
Check out our NEW 24/7 streaming service: the Advocate Channel!
Download the Advocate Channel App for your mobile phone and your favorite streaming device!
From our Sponsors
Most Popular
Meet all 37 of the queer women in this season's WNBA
April 17 2024 11:24 AM
Here are the 15 gayest travel destinations in the world: report
March 26 2024 9:23 AM
21+ steamy photos of Scotland’s finest gay men in Elska Glasgow
February 01 2024 10:07 PM
More Than 50 of Our Favorite LGBTQ+ Moms
May 12 2024 11:44 AM
Conjoined twins Lori Schappell and trans man George Schappell dead at 62
April 27 2024 6:13 PM
Latest Stories
Joe Biden sends queer lawmakers & LGBTQ+ allies to Paris Olympics
July 24 2024 12:08 PM
Kamala Harris rides wave of Democratic energy at kickoff event in Wisconsin
July 23 2024 3:36 PM
'Devastated:' A six-week abortion ban will go into effect in Iowa next week
July 23 2024 2:28 PM
Four hours, 44,000 Black women, and one Zoom call
July 23 2024 2:17 PM