Predicting Breast Cancer Survival

 A protein called p27 may become a valuable tool to predict survival outcomes in women with breast cancer, new research reveals.

The first and largest clinical trial of its kind confirms that abnormally low levels of p27 (a protein that prevents cells from dividing) in tumour cells, are associated with poor prognosis for breast and other cancers. Published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, the US study involved women with newly diagnosed moderaterisk, primary breast cancer. It found that low levels of p27 in tumour cells were associated with poor breast cancer survival rates, particularly among women with hormone receptor-positive tumours that depend on the hormones oestrogen and progesterone to grow.

In women with high levels of p27, the five-year survival rate was 91 per cent, compared with 85 per cent in women whose tumours had low levels of p27. The researchers found no association between p27 expression and decreased survival among women with hormone receptor-negative tumours.

Previous attempts to determine the prognostic value of p27 have been limited by the fact that the women studied did not receive uniform treatment, which made it unclear whether certain treatments impacted on the strength of p27 as a predictor of outcome.

While the new findings suggest that p27 may be a useful tool to predict breast  cancer mortality, more work needs to be done first, says lead author Dr Peggy Porter, of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Centre.

Article kindly supplied by AstraZeneca.