Study: Certain Genes Can Help Refine Breast Cancer Prognosis

Researchers report that certain genes in breast cancer tissue can help them identify patients who are likely to survive the disease even when cancer has spread broadly to the lymph nodes.

Dr. Melody Cobleigh of Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke's Medical Center in Chicago told the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology that even among women with 10 or more positive nodes who generally have a poor prognosis, the gene expression profile could predict long-term survival.

Cobleigh reported that in examining the breast cancer tissue of 79 patients who had been treated at Rush between 1979 and 1999, researchers determined that women whose tumors expressed excess amounts of such genes as TP53BP2, PR and Bcl2 were more likely to be free of cancer in their vital organs.

On the other hand, the researchers found that women whose tumors expressed too much of such genes as GRB7, CTSL and DIABLO experienced a worse outcome.

"Until now, the only indications we have had of long-term prognosis were tumor size and the number of involved nodes," Cobleigh said. "This technology will allow us to tailor a prognosis to the individual patient, using information from thousands of genes."

Other Sources: ASCO