Galway Bay fm newsroom – Researchers at NUI Galway have identified genomic markers that indicate long-term survival in women that develop the most common type of breast cancer.
The team analysed the genomes of breast cancer patients to look for associations with survival rates using advanced statistical techniques.
Early detection and treatment for patients diagnosed with "luminal" types of breast cancer results in excellent prognoses with survival rates of over 80 percent within 5 years.
However, the challenge of long-term survival is not as well understood and more than half of all recurrances take place after this point.
Researchers at NUI Galway focused on whether an overall measurement of genome instability in cancer cells in these patients, observed at diagnosis and before treatment, could provide additional information in predicting their long-term survival.
They employed advanced statistical modelling to analyze data from more than 2 thousand patients, using biopsies taken between 1977 and 2005.
The research team, led by Lydia King, were able to sort the patients into groups and link their genome instability score with their clinical classifications.
For example, the research revealed that patients diagnosed with less aggressive breast cancer, but with high levels of genome instability, had patterns of reduced survival similar to those suffering from more advanced breast cancer.
Researchers hope that incorporating such genomic analysis into clinical care could improve diagnosis and allow oncologists to tailor treatments for individual patients.
