Scientists hail cancer ‘revolution’

Results from the biggest breast cancer tumour study ever conducted could revolutionise the way the disease is diagnosed and treated, it has been claimed.

Scientists reclassified breast cancers into ten new categories based on their genetic “fingerprints”. Several entirely new breast cancer genes that drive the disease were also uncovered.

The wealth of new data is expected to lead to better ways of predicting patient survival, as well as novel treatments tailored to people’s genetic make-up.

The research, published in the journal Nature, is the largest ever global study of breast cancer tissue. It marks the culmination of decades of work by British and Canadian scientists, led by a Cancer Research UK team based in Cambridge.

Genetic material from 2,000 tumour samples taken from women diagnosed with breast cancer between five and ten years ago was analysed.

The scientists sorted the samples into ten subtypes based on common genetic features linked to survival. The new classification has major implications for drug treatment, paving the way to more personalised therapies.

All the breast cancer genes identified by the scientists are potential targets for the development of new drugs.