Breast cancer, a genomic test called Oncotype, available but still little used in Italy, allows more and more to personalize treatment in the initial phase, in fact it is able to identify over 80% of women who will not have a substantial benefit from chemotherapy, instead identifying the patients whose chemotherapy can save their lives. This is evidenced by the update of TAILORx, the largest breast cancer study, presented at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.
Breast cancer, dna test
Currently Oncotype DX is recognized as a standard of care and its use is included in all the most important international guidelines on breast cancer, explains Giuseppe Curigliano, of the University of Milan and the European Institute of Oncology in Milan. The test examines the activity of 21 genes in a sample of tumor tissue. “Through the evaluation – he explains – we can establish both the probability of recurrence and the response to chemotherapy, a treatment still much feared by the majority of patients”. Testing is a crucial aid in limiting the use of chemo to only those who will derive clinical benefit from it.
Cognitive impairment
In this way, undesirable effects such as cognitive deterioration or the better known such as alopecia and menopause will also be limited. «Cognitive deterioration is a fairly widespread but less known effect – underlines Francesco Cognetti, President of the Confederation of Oncologists, Cardiologists, Hematologists and professor of Oncology at the UniCamillus University in Rome -. It is estimated that it can affect up to 60% of women receiving chemotherapy for breast cancer. Cognitive deficits are a problem that should not be underestimated because they can significantly worsen the quality of life». «Our country has arrived late in using the tests – underline Curigliano and Cognetti -. Although it has been available free of charge for several months to all Italian patients, we still see little use by medical-health personnel. At the moment we are using only 50% of the available tests, while in Italy over 10,000 women could benefit from them, equal to about a fifth of all new cases of breast cancer”.