Scientists a step closer to 'personalised breast cancer treatments'

Published on Tuesday 28 July 2009 22:01

SCIENTISTS in Scotland have developed a way of predicting a woman's response to the breast cancer drug Herceptin, it has been revealed.

Herceptin is currently given to patients whose cancer cells have high levels of a protein called HER2. However, some patients do not respond to the drug, while others develop a resistance to it.

By developing a model to predict its effects on the body, scientists say they are a step closer towards "personalising" cancer treatment.

Researchers at Edinburgh University devised a model to represent the interactions of different molecules involved in breast cancer and identified a particular protein as being related to resistance to anti-HER2 therapy.

The team at the Breakthrough Breast Cancer research unit at the Western General Hospital

found those patients whose tumours had high levels of the protein survived on average 22 months longer than those with low levels.

Pathologist Dr Dana Faratian said: "This work is a major step forward because, despite Herceptin benefiting thousands of women, it does not work for some patients.

"The impact of this new approach could be huge."

About one in five of the 4,000 cases of breast cancer diagnosed each year in Scotland is HER2 positive, and those women may be offered Herceptin as part of their treatment.

The latest findings are published in the journal Cancer Research.

&#149 The number of cancers detected through breast screening has risen by almost a third in the past five years, figures showed yesterday.

A total of 1,378 cancers were found through screening in 2007-8 in women of all ages, compared with 1,067 five years ago – a rise of 29 per cent.