3 breakthroughs in breast cancer treatment in 2016

Release date: 2016-10-26

In the United States, one in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer during their lifetime . Ten years ago, I became one of them, enduring chemotherapy, surgery, radiotherapy, and subsequent hair loss and persistent nausea. But now there is significant news for all women. These toxic treatment options may be abandoned because the treatment of breast cancer is rapidly shifting to more personalized and targeted, which can save millions of lives and completely change the quality of life of patients. Three breakthroughs will lead to more effective treatment and rethinking the cause of the disease.

Targeted combination therapy completely eliminates signs of cancer

The biggest advancement in breast cancer treatment in 2016 was how cancer- targeted drug combinations made 11% of patients completely free of signs of breast cancer within 11 days. The UK study involved 257 HER2-positive breast cancers in combination with two drugs from GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE:GSK) and Roche Holdings (NASDAQOTH:RHHBY).

11% may not seem exciting enough, but it is crazy to completely eradicate breast cancer in less than two weeks . Tumors are very resistant to chemotherapy drugs, and even after about a few months of treatment, they have no effect. Instead, we surgically remove the tumor and then chemotherapy to remove tumor cells that may spread to other parts of the body.

In the past few years, only a small percentage of women have received chemotherapy first. Although the regimen sometimes narrows the tumor, the order of treatment is reversed. Because oncologists are more concerned with the location of cancer metastasis than the primary tumor. But Glaxo (GlaxoSmithKline) and Roche (Roche) drugs Herceptin and Tykerb - not intravenous chemotherapy drugs, but simple oral drugs. In addition, these drugs are highly targeted and specifically attack cancer cells. This is a huge plus because patients do not have to face serious side effects of chemotherapy, such as killing all rapidly dividing cells in the body, such as hair follicles and healthy bone marrow cells.

Even better, there are many new therapies on the market, including monoclonal antibodies such as Herceptin and Tykerb, checkpoint products such as PD-1 and other treatments that stimulate the patient's immune system. As in the drug trial at Glaxo/Roche, combining these drugs in one can increase the probability of successful treatment and may eventually cure.

Identify 93 disease-causing genes in breast cancer

In May of this year, researchers at the Cambridge Institute in the UK unraveled the full picture of the genes responsible for breast cancer. Because of their efforts, we will soon know why a specific population will develop symptoms.

Specifically, the scientists discovered 93 genes whose mutations transformed a normal breast cell into a cancer cell. Professor Mike Straton claims that the list will be handed over to universities, pharmaceutical companies, biotech companies to develop new drugs. The more we know about the genetics of cancer, the more we know what treatments are effective for a particular population, thereby improving patient survival.

Blood test can replace mammogram

This year's huge breakthrough made us begin to contact breast cancer blood tests. Specifically, researchers in France and Australia reported that changes in the carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios can reveal the presence of disease.

With this new approach to detecting breast cancer, the project's lead researcher, Professor Guillaume Tcherkez, said that we will have a simple blood test in a few years. For women, this is good news, because the best mammograms currently available have a 16% inaccuracy rate. Misdiagnosis results include false positives (the screen displays breasts incorrectly) and false negatives (cannot detect tumors).

A new type of breast cancer blood test is being developed in France. The US gene sequencing giant Illumina (NASDAQ: ILMN) is working on an integrated liquid cancer biopsy to detect almost all cancers. Illumina claims that the early version will enter the market three years later. If this goal is achieved, many forms of cancer will be discovered in advance, and this should significantly reduce the world's cancer mortality rate when it is still treatable.

How to use breast cancer to break through the treatment of tumor

People who may have breast cancer, including all women and all men (though rarely) will benefit from the breakthrough in breast cancer. The disease is inviolable, and as new therapies flood the market, many doctors have never prescribed these drugs, and may hesitate and even suspect their possible benefits.

In fact, protecting your health is the best way to overcome this disease. But that doesn't mean you can ignore your doctor's advice. You should try to prevent cancer, such as healthy eating and exercise, make sure you get the necessary checks, if you diagnose cancer, ask questions, if you are not satisfied with the answer, seek The second opinion. Although the survival rate has doubled in the past 20 years, in the United States, one woman dies of breast cancer every 12 minutes. So never forget that this disease poses a serious threat to your life. No one cares more about your life than you.

But there is no need to be sad, because research now shows that our own body can be fully activated to fight. This not only increases the likelihood of survival, it also brings us closer to the day of breast cancer cure.

Source: New Kangjie

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