Brussels, 28/10/2014 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission has said that in the context of funding breast cancer research projects, it will be concentrating on personalised medicine, which is the most promising way forward for this treatment. On Tuesday 28 October, the Commission used the opportunity of the international community's Breast Cancer Awareness Month this October to shed light on the most recent advances made in EU funded research (the 7th framework programme for 2007-2013) for treating and screening this disease, which could possibly affect one out of every eight women in developed countries.
The Commission was particularly keen on highlighting the TRANSBIG project. As part of this project, which attempts to improve the link between laboratory work and treatment, clinical trials (MINDACT) are currently being carried out on the basis of genomic analyses in order to determine in what circumstances chemotherapy - the secondary effects of which can be very significant (secondary cancers, cardiac lesions) - is the most appropriate for patients who have already had breast cancer operations. The results of these trials, in which more than 6,600 women from nine countries participated, are expected to be released in 2015 but there are already estimates that between 10% and 20% of chemotherapy could be avoided.
Several other projects are also being carried out: - the EPIC trials (521,000 people monitored over a 15 year period) focus on the links between diet, lifestyle and the environment, and the risks of developing breast cancer; - analysing the circulation of tumour cells and DNA in blood, CareMore (molecular diagnosis by laser beam) and CTCTrap (a dialysis based biopsy) seek to improve early diagnosis and treatment for women who have metastatic breast cancer; - ASSURE, which seeks alternatives to mammography (ultrasound, MRI) by testing personalised screening; - RATHER (a huge comparison of normal and cancerous tissues) and MERIT (research on new RNA-based immunotherapy) also seek to personalise screening and treatment for women with triple-negative and invasive lobular breast cancer (for RATHER), both of which are currently very difficult to treat because no specific treatment is yet known. (JK)