Breast Cancer Symptoms & Treatment Update: No More Chemo After Surgery With New Test - What Is MammaPrint?

Breast cancer patients who have undergone surgery could benefit from a new test that could recommend no more chemotherapy. The revolutionary process could spare women from the side effects of cancer treatments. The test, called the MammaPrint, is from Agendia, and its purpose is to analyze the genes of the tumor that has been removed during the breast surgery.

It should confirm how active the cancer genes are, or if it will still likely spread and grow. It should help breast cancer patients and their doctors determine if further treatments must be done, reported BreastCancer,org.

The MammaPrint Clinical Trial

Researchers studied 6693 women who were diagnosed with breast cancer in its early stages and have had surgery. They were then categorized into four groups of having high or low risk breast cancer, per Cancer Therapy Advisor:

- Group 1: 2745 women (G-low/C-low)
- Group 2: 1806 women (G-high/C-high)
- Group 3: 592 women (G-high/C-low)
- Group 4: 1550 women (G-low/C-high)

The first group was assigned no chemotherapy, while the second group required it. The remaining groups' participants were randomly assigned to either receive or not receive chemotherapy.

Of the patients with C-high diagnosis in the groups, and who were then treated with MammaPrint, 46 percent exhibited better chances of having no metastasis within a five-year frame. Meanwhile, 94 percent of the patients in the fourth group (G-low/C-high) exhibited good results with MammaPrint, regardless if they were assigned chemotherapy or not.

"That's very high," said co-researcher Laura van 't Veer via US News. "And we showed that it doesn't differ between those who are treated and those who are not treated by chemotherapy."

#AACR16 #MammaPrint in Mindact trial, 'allowing many women to avoid chemotherapy'. Comment slide by Discussant! pic.twitter.com/UE5rWuV5Qm

— Laura VAN T VEER (@LVVPrint) April 18, 2016

Mamaprint's Implications

"Using MammaPrint could change clinical practice by substantially de-escalating the use of adjuvant chemotherapy and sparing many patients an aggressive treatment they will not benefit from," said research head Martine Piccart. This means that patients can not only save medical costs, but also reduce acquiring long-term and harmful side effects that's common in chemotherapy.

Before this, doctors gauged whether breast cancer patients should go through chemo based on a biopsy that measures the size of the tumor through a microscope. With MammaPrint, the test looks into the tumor's actual biology and composition.

MammaPrint Cost And Availability

The Daily Mail reported that MammaPrint has not yet been approved commercially in the United Kingdom and is only administered through clinical trials at £2,675 ($3827.12) per patient. However, it is already approved in the United States through the FDA.