Study: Gene Profiling May Help Find Best Breast Cancer Treatment

Researchers believe that genetic profiling could lead to a test that will show which women with breast cancer will benefit from treatment with the widely used chemotherapy drug Taxotere (docetaxel).

Previous studies have shown that some breast cancer patients are more likely to survive the disease if they receive chemotherapy following surgery but other women have tumors that are resistant to certain drugs.

Reporting in the journal The Lancet, researchers from Baylor University Medical Center said they did genetic profiles on samples of cancerous breast tissue from 24 patients to test their response to docetaxel, a widely used chemotherapy drug.

They found 92 genes that seemed to determine the difference between whether the tumor would be sensitive or resistant to the drug.

Of the 24 patients, 11 were considered sensitive, while 13 were considered resistant. The researchers said the gene profiling correctly predicted which women would respond to chemotherapy 92 percent of the time and predicted which women would not respond 83 percent of the time.

If the research is supported in larger tests, researchers said gene profiling may lead to tests to determine how breast cancer patients were going to respond to particular drugs.

Other Sources: The Lancet