Biomarker Helps Predict Breast Cancer Recurrence

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Biomarker Helps Predict Breast Cancer Recurrence

– Reported, July 02, 2013

 

(Ivanhoe Newswire) — A biomarker reflecting expression levels of two genes in tumor tissue may be able to predict which women treated for estrogen-receptor (ER)-positive breast cancer should receive a second estrogen-blocking medication after completing tamoxifen treatment.

The Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Cancer Center investigators describe finding that the HOXB13/IL17BR ratio can indicate which women are at risk for cancer recurrence after tamoxifen and which are most likely to benefit from continuing treatment with the aromatase inhibitor letrozole (Femara). “Our biomarker identifies the subgroup of patients who continue to be at risk of recurrence after tamoxifen treatment and who will benefit from extended therapy with letrozole, which should allow many women to avoid unnecessary extended treatment,” Dennis Sgroi, MD, of the MGH Cancer Center and Department of Pathology, was quoted as saying.

SOURCE: Journal of the National Cancer Institute, July 2013