Researchers who said that the return of breast cancer might be associated with certain genetic factors have said that their findings might lead to improved treatments for breast cancer, philly.com reports.
Breast cancer returns in about one in five patients, either as the original tumor or in other parts of the body.
"We have found that some of the genetic mutations that drive breast cancers that relapse are relatively uncommon among cancers that do not relapse at the point of primary diagnosis," study leader Dr. Lucy Yates, a clinical research oncologist at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in Cambridge, England, said in a congress news release.
"We believe that the differences we have seen reflect genetic differences that can predispose a cancer to return, combined with mutations acquired throughout the period from first diagnosis to the subsequent relapse. Some of these genetic alterations are potentially targetable with drugs," she said.
For the study, the researchers studied the genes in the tumors of 1,000 breast cancer patients, which included 161 patients whose breast cancer had returned.
The study revealed that that there were genetic differences between primary and recurring tumors.
The study will be presented Sept. 26 at the European Cancer Congress in Vienna.
Dr. Peter Naredi, scientific co-chair of the cancer congress, said, "Not only can we better choose the right treatment combination as our information about the primary tumor increases, and hence prevent overtreating patients who will not benefit, but this will also help us select the right therapy for each breast cancer patient.
"This study also underlines the fact that we should consider a recurrence of a cancer as a new event, and carefully select the right treatment for the recurrent tumor as opposed to just relying on information from the first occurrence," he added.
