A Fascinating Year in Breast Cancer Advances
Microscope picture of breast cancerSome of the most important advances in breast cancer this year were related to all kinds of heterogeneity: within tumors, between tumors in a single patient, and between tumors in early and later stages, according to oncologists speaking at conferences, and contacted by Bioscience Technology.
“This year we had a lot of fascinating stories,” Jorge Reis-Filho told the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium in December. Reis-Filho is a cancer geneticist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Among the most important stories, he said, was the repeated confirmation, due to improving technology and massive genetics projects, that “heterogeneity is incredibly prevalent.”
Other areas of note, said oncologists, included findings that PALB2 is a strong germ-line proclivity gene; that drugs can be added to Herceptin to increase its potency; that ovarian suppression can work on some populations; and that long-term tamoxifen can prompt estrogen-induced apoptosis.
