The findings of a recent study conducted by researchers at Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center reveal how a type of cell can help in predicting the recurrence or relapse of breast cancer. 

Published in the journal ‘Scientific Reports’, the study was conducted by using advanced technological equipment that multiplied and expanded tissue cells in the breast that were initially challenging to extract. 

The researchers based their study on the epithelial cells in the breast and extracted them from donated non-cancerous tissue in a breast that once had cancerous tissue removed through a surgical procedure. 

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Although medical science continues to advance, microscopic pieces of tumour that are left undetected often become a factor in breast cancer relapse in about 15% of women.

After examining epithelial cells, the experts found significantly altered RNA i.e. changes in genes that previously indicated signs of cancer in the future. Hence, a change in a cell’s genetic material is a major predictor of breast cancer recurrence. 

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“When a person is diagnosed with breast cancer, we have several tools, including testing for genes such as BRCA1/2, to decide whether they should get certain kinds of chemotherapy or just receive hormonal therapy. But the tools we have are not as precise as we would like,” said Priscilla Furth, M.D., professor of oncology and medicine at Georgetown Lombardi and corresponding author of the study.

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“About one in eight women are diagnosed with breast cancer in the developed world. We hope that our findings will help lead to more precise and directed screening in the future, sparing women unneeded procedures as we currently screen almost all women between the ages of 40 to 70, sometimes very aggressively,” Furth added.

The study was successful, thanks to the conditionally reprogrammed cells (CRC) technique, an advanced method invented by Georgetown. 

“Anything we can do to prevent the occurrence or recurrence of cancer is a significant step forward and we think this finding may be an important contribution to reducing misdiagnosis as well as point to ways to develop better therapies to treat the disease,” Furth concluded.