Scientists identify genes that help cancer cells survive in the bloodstream

A new statistical tool that combines multiple clinical and pathologic factors with a patient’s 21-gene Oncotype DX Breast Recurrence Score result provides more accurate estimates about that patient’s breast cancer prognosis and their potential benefit from chemotherapy than either the Recurrence Score result or clinical factors alone, a SWOG Cancer Research study found.

In patients with high-risk HER2-positive breast cancer, post-surgery, or adjuvant, treatment with trastuzumab emtansine, also referred to as T-DM1) reduced the long-term risk of death or invasive disease by 46% and improved survival compared to trastuzumab alone, according to the final results of the phase III KATHERINE clinical trial led by researchers from the University of Pittsburgh and UPMC Hillman Cancer Center.