Groundbreaking genomic test could spare millions of breast cancer patients chemotherapy
Millions of women with breast cancer could be spared chemotherapy with a groundbreaking genomic test, according to the results of a trial that could transform healthcare guidelines worldwide.
Treatment for breast cancer, the world’s most prevalent form of the disease, involves surgery to remove tumours. Chemotherapy is then usually recommended when doctors believe there is a risk the disease will return.
But chemotherapy’s toxic side-effects, which can include hair loss, rashes, nausea, insomnia and fatigue, are physically and emotionally gruelling for patients. Some women may face life-changing consequences such as infertility, cognitive impairment or early menopause.
For decades, there has been little choice for patients. Now scientists have developed a genomic test that can spot who needs chemotherapy and who doesn’t. The breakthrough enables doctors to determine which patients can safely skip it, paving the way for a new era of personalised medicine.
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/may/29/groundbreaking-genomic-test-spare-breast-cancer-patients-chemotherapy-hormone-therapy
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The randomised trial involved 4,429 patients aged 40 or above with hormone-positive breast cancer. This is the most common form of breast cancer, accounting for up to 80% of breast cancer cases globally.
Participants were assigned to one of two treatment groups. In the standard treatment group, patients received chemotherapy followed by hormone therapy. In the second group, patients had their tumours analysed with the genomic test.
Those with a high score received chemotherapy and hormone therapy. Those with a low score were treated with hormone therapy alone. Radiotherapy and other treatments were given as usual to both groups.
In the second group, results showed outcomes were extremely similar whether chemotherapy was given or not. Five years after treatment, 95% of those who had chemotherapy and hormone therapy were alive and free from breast cancer recurrence, while 94% of those who skipped chemotherapy were also alive and recurrence-free.
The results suggest that for those with low test scores, chemotherapy offered little or no additional benefit, meaning patients could safely avoid it and its side-effects.
Hooray for science! This is the best news I've heard in a long time and very reassuring to many of us. Both my mother and my grandmother died of breast cancer, and they both had additional medical issues which affected their treatment and outcome. We've seen what chemotherapy can do to a sickly person, and sometimes the "cure" can be more difficult than the disease itself.
