Researchers from Washington University and the National Cancer Institute are recruiting about 10,000 American women for a clinical trial called "TAILOR-x" -- Trial Assigning Individualized Options for Treatment (Rx), designed to evaluate which breast cancer patients really need chemotherapy and which can forgo the harsh treatment without the risk of recurrence.
One of the goals is to refine cancer therapy by matching specific treatments to the characteristics of different cancer cells. These studies will help doctors "tailor" breast cancer treatment for individual patients.
Many women needlessly endure the debilitating side effects of chemotherapy because doctors are unsure which patients truly need it. The goal of the study is to determine whether early breast cancer patients with an intermediate risk of recurrence, about 50,000 women a year in the U.S., will benefit or suffer from chemotherapy.
 |  |
 | |  |
| | | | | | | |
Breast cancer
Gene-typing helps doctors know how treat breast cancer.
 
| | |
| | | | | |
|
Researchers are using a high-tech gene test called Oncotype DX, which uses RNA analysis to look at the genetic profile of a woman's tumor and assess the risk of reoccurrence after the tumor has been surgically removed. The greater the risk, the more aggressive the treatment will be.
Women with high "reccurence scores" will likely get a large benefit from chemotherapy. This is based on the idea that chemo will cut the odds that the cancer will reoccur. Women with "low" scores will not get such a large benefit and therefore will be assigned hormone therapy.
Women with hormone-sensitive cancer that has not spread beyond the breast -- meaning there is no sign of cancer in their lymph nodes -- are eligible to participate. Participants will be studied for 10 years.
