Active form of biomarker may predict breast cancer patients' response to Tamoxifen
Many doctors recommend that breast cancer patients buy Tamoxifen to slow the progression of the disease.
Many doctors recommend that breast cancer patients buy Tamoxifen to slow the progression of the disease. This drug is widely used in women who have been diagnosed with the estrogen receptor-positive variety of the condition, but not everyone responds to this type of treatment. Researchers from the Kimmel Cancer Center recently looked into why Tamoxifen is so effective for only some.
Their paper, which appears in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, suggested that a biomarker called Stat5 may have a role to play. The scientists discovered that women whose tumors have the active form of this protein are more likely to respond to Tamoxifen treatment, while those who did not had up to a 20-fold increased risk of dying from breast cancer.
"Identification of predictive biomarkers present in breast cancer will lead to improved, individualized therapies tailored specifically towards each woman's cancer," said lead author Hallgeir Rui. "Absence of the active form of Stat5 could help identify a group of patients unlikely to respond to Tamoxifen so they may be offered alternative and more aggressive treatments."
The researchers concluded that although more work needs to be done in order to confirm these findings, they are optimistic about the potential of Stat5 as a predictive biomarker for the success of Tamoxifen.
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