Breakthrough for breast cancer survivors after discovery of which patients most likely to have recurring disease
Doctors make huge breast cancer discovery which could stop disease recurring
- A breakthrough clinical trial has enabled doctors to identify and remove dormant 'sleeper cells' responsible for breast cancer recurrence.
- These 'sleeper cells', which do not typically show up on scans, can be found in patients' bone marrow and are a key factor in cancer returning.
- In the trial, specific drugs successfully cleared these cells from 80 per cent of 51 breast cancer survivors, with only two patients experiencing recurrence after six to twelve months of treatment.
- Researchers found that the drugs effective against these dormant cells differ from those used for actively growing cancers, indicating a distinct biological mechanism.
- This development offers significant hope for breast cancer survivors, as recurrent breast cancer has previously been considered incurable.