Research on Breast Cancer Patients Discovers No Link between PCR Rate and Race
A study undergone by scientists from the M. D. Anderson Cancer Center at the University of Texas discovered that people who were suffering from breast cancer in an advanced stage and were treated with the similar group of neo-adjuvant chemotherapy presented rather peculiar features. At the time of their surgery, the patients either presented no signs of the illness or presented the complete pathological response in their system. These results were the same for all the women undergoing the study no matter their race.
The research received grant from the National Cancer Institute and Susan G. Komen for the Cure. The first author of the study is medical doctor Chavez Mac Gregor. Accompanying her in the study are the following: Gabriel Hortobagyi, Ana Maria Gonzalez-Angulo, Jennifer Litton, Vicente Valero, Huiqin Chen, Funda Meric-Bernstam, Melissa Bondy, Clifford Hudis and Antonio Wolff.
During the San Francisco Breast Cancer Symposium this year, the discoveries made by the M. D. Anderson team of researchers were released during a discussion session. This research is the biggest study undergone over a similar features group of women suffering from breast cancer that studies the pCR (pathological complete response) in relationship with the race of the population. The team of scientists from the M. D. Anderson Cancer Center also conducted another research which took a closer look at the relationships between the HER2 negative, the estrogen receptor negative and the progesterone receptor negative. The research focused on this triplet`s relationship with the pathological complete response.
One of the scientists of the research team was medical doctor Mariana Chavez Mac Gregor, an oncologist within the M. D. Anderson Cancer Center. She stated that their discoveries support the pCR in the women`s organism and this represents a high opportunity for surpassing the deadly effects of breast cancer. The team`s findings apply to all races and as doctor Chavez Mac Gregor believes it is essential to continue their research in order to find out more about the pathological complete response in all the races and the ways they can improve it in order to save as many lives as possible.
According to statistics provided by the American Cancer Society it seems that over 19,540 black people and about 14,200 Hispanics are prone to suffer from breast cancer. Moreover, there has been recorded a 10% lower illness rate among black people compared to the white population. , According to statistics comprising the years from 2001 until 2005, it seems that white people recorded a 37% bigger cancer rate that they black counterparts. Furthermore, the American Cancer Society also presented figures which mean that the death rate caused by breast cancer is higher in white people and lower in Hispanic women.
Medical doctor Mariana Chavez Mac Gregor explained that these race disparities should be the subject for a wider and thorough monitoring and studies in order to understand better the various roots of breast cancer and their specific features. This is why, the M. D. Anderson Cancer Center researcher team is focusing on comprehending the tumors and types of breast cancer because as the main author of the study states in order to save more lives the medical world should have a complete understanding of the relationship of the pCR and all the other factors involved with breast cancer. The scientists` problem was the fact that they had not found out exactly the link between the race and the pathological complete response. Due to the disparities the researchers were not able to discover which of the races presented better pathological complete response rates and were not able to acquire knowledge about improving and implementing therapies.
The study focused on these concerns made us of the virtual database provided by the M. D. Anderson Breast Medical, the Oncology department. Thus, the team of doctors focused on a sample of 2,074 women suffering from breast cancer in Stages II and III who were treated at this cancer center. 64.3% of the individuals from the study, meaning 1,334 patients, were white. Hispanics recorded a 15.2% meaning a number of 316, the black people were in a number of 302 summing 14.6% from the whole sample and the remaining 5.9% meaning 122 breast cancer patients were other ethnical groups. The average age of the patients was of 50 years. The whole sample was treated with neo-adjuvant anthracycline chemotherapy and taxane-based chemo in order to homogenize better the final outcomes of the study. When it came to the moment of the clinical operation, the team of doctors discovered insignificant differences in the pCR ratios between the various ethnic groups tested. The results were as follows: 12.3 % in white women, 12.5 % in black people, 14.24 % in Hispanics and 11.5 % in other race groups.
Taking the study further, the scientists found out that after thirty months that 438 women encountered breast cancer remissions and 327 of the sample patients died. Taking a closer look at the RFS (recurrence-free) rate over five years and the patient`s overall survival it was discovered that for white women the RFS was of 71% and the OS of 79%, for black women 60% and 57%, Hispanic people encountered 76% and 79% and the other ethnic groups summed 75% and 84%. Due to the fact that the subtypes of pCR, HER2-positive and triple-negative and lymph node implication were not achieved it meant that the two rates would be found in high numbers among the breast cancer suffering patients.
As doctor Mariana Chavez Mac Gregor states, the research also hardened the theory according to which the black people were on the trend of recording unfavorable results whereas the Hispanic women encountered better results in comparison to the white people. Furthermore, the researcher also explained that this study had also limits due to the fact that it was undergone by a single organization and the results needed a bigger sample and a joint effort and the research also has a retrospective feature. Furthermore, the study only focused on the patients` sample upon the moment of surgery without putting great attention to the after-the-surgery effects such as the reactions of the patients to the hormonal therapies or other treatments different from the five years unadjusted recurrence-free and the overall survival. Nonetheless, the scientists wish to conduct a broader research on women who did not achieve the complete pathological response in order to see why they did not managed to discover the key of this agent in the breast cancer therapy.
