Genomic sequencing assists in breast cancer prevention

A new study, published in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, claims genomic sequencing could be useful for identifying women who are most likely to benefit from screening, and it could render an effective approach for women to decrease their risk of breast cancer.

Among American women, breast cancer is the second leading cause of death. This year see that about 232,000 women are diagnosed with invasive breast cancer, along with 40,000 lethal cases.

Early detecting for the disease would be helpful in reducing patient's death rate, but screening approaches like mammography can sometimes produce inconsistent results.

Mammography, as the most common screening method for breast cancer, is not without its risk. It may produce false-positive results, meaning a woman may be subject to further treatment for no reason. On the other hand, it also show false-negative results, meaning a woman whose has breast cancer may fail to undergo treatment because her results appear normal.

More effective screening approaches are expected to discriminate between women who are high-risk or not. Genomic sequencing is more effective for disease prevention, in which specific genes linked to the disease are identified through searching small sections of DNA. Scientists found that the lifetime risk for the entire female population stood at 0.35, significantly higher than the 0.07 variance, via using such tool and 86 breast cancer gene variants.

These findings indicate that genomic sequencing has the potential to effectively predict a woman's risk of breast cancer. It's expected that preventive strategies based on genome sequencing will bring greater gains in disease prevention than previously projected.

Researchers have discovered that the addition of new agent cediranib into standard chemotherapy may be beneficial for patients with metastatic or recurrent cervical cancer and may render a path for future treatment of the disease.

A battle against cervical cancer

The findings hold promise for tackling a medical issue: in Europe, patients with recurrent or secondary cancer have a low chance of survival, with only 20-30% experiencing tumour shrinkage after conventional chemotherapy and life expectancy being diagnosed as less than one year for many.

In the study, patients with recurrent or secondary cervical cancer were enrolled to divide into two groups, receiving conventional chemotherapy -- carboplatin and paclitaxel -- plus either cediranib or an identical looking placebo tablet. The results showed that patients who received chemotherapy had greater tumour shrinkage, 66 % versus 42%, than those treated in the placebo group and there was an increase in median progression-free survival rates.

Interpretation for therapeutic effectiveness

A researcher explained, " Cancers develop their own blood supply and cancers of the cervix with a well-developed blood supply can have a particularly bad outcome for the patient. Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF), as one of the cancer-causing substances, increase new blood vessels in cervical cancer. The experimental drug cediranib blocks the receptor for VEGF in the cancer, potentially limiting its growth in the body. Targeting the tumour blood supply seems the way forward to increase the effectiveness of chemotherapy in cervical cancer.

To explore potential therapeutic application, researchers will implement the next stage of the research to look at outcome and VEGF levels in an individual patient, suggesting: "they will focus on different biomarkers, and find out why a significant number of patients live far longer than they expected."

Numerologist Warda is hooked on OG-L002 fishing, collecting. And lastly her encouragement comes from socializing along with her companions.