Dr Prat talks to ecancer at the IMProving care And Knowledge through Translational research (IMPAKT) meeting in Brussels, May 2012.
Gene expression tests currently available are not an option for most of the world due to cost and assay turn around time, so Dr Prat led a team looking at gene expresssion data across 5 independent studies to try to improve pathology based biomarkers.
The study found that progesterone receptor-positive cells acted as a biomarker identifying luminal A tumours, thus enabling the identification of the sub-group of patients who may not need adjuvant systemic chemotherapy.
Gene expression data combined with pathological data improves the management of certain breast cancer patients; however issues such as cost and logistics need to be overcome.
Filming Supported by Amgen