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Two out of 10 patients will have cancer again. ANMAT has authorized a treatment that reduces relapses by 30%.
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The data are known: 1 in 8 women will develop breast cancer at some point in your life. The other fact that is perhaps not as well known is that 2 out of 10 of these women they will have a tumor again over the next 10 years, as well as having completed their treatment. Now a new drug can help avoid those relapses.
The reasons why a woman who has managed to overcome breast cancer has it again – technically it’s called that relapse– there are several. And to understand them we must understand, as the oncologist Valeria Cáceres says, that “breast cancer is a heterogeneous group of diseases“.
The specialist, head of the Clinical Oncology Department of the Roffo Institute, points out that about 70% of tumors are those called luminal, which are the ones that express hormone receptors. A 13% expresses the HER2 protein, which is why they are called HER2 positive. And there is a third type, which ranges from 15% to 17% of cases, is called triple negativeswhich do not express hormone receptors or HER 2. Depending on the tumor, it will be the indication for treatment.
“Although triple negatives are those with the worst prognosis, with the highest risk of relapse, within the luminals there is a subgroup of patients at higher riskwhich can reach up to 40% ”, he underlines.
These patients are those who have more than four axillary lymph nodes involved at the time of surgery, who have between one or three nodes with some other adverse prognostic factor (such as a tumor size greater than five centimeters) or what is called a high proliferation, which has to do with a high number of cells being duplicated.
“Despite the usual treatments, such as surgery, radiotherapy, adjuvant or preventive chemotherapy, and hormone treatment, these patients have a high probability of recurrence”, He admits.
His colleague Victoria Constanzo, deputy head of the Breast Oncology Service at the Alexander Fleming Institute, agrees and points out that the very young patientsYoung people in their 40s or 35s are also at greater risk of relapse. But it makes it clear that age alone is not a risk factor but rather an influence a very aggressive or time-consuming tumor to be diagnosedoften in women with no family history.
“If a tumor has spread from the breast to the nodes, the risk of it spreading from the nodes is greater. More cells, there is an increased risk of cells outside the breast”, Details the oncologist. And he explains that when the tumor reappears, it’s still “breast cancer, but in another location. It often appears in the bones. In these cases it can be cured, but not cured.
The risk relapses, explains Costanzo, “it is never zero. But she is older in the early years ”. That 40% risk in patients with luminal cancers is three years. But it’s not uncommon to see patients who had cancer 10 years ago or more and have a recurrence. That’s why always continue with medical checks recommended is essential.
Targeted therapies
In recent years, the battery of therapeutic options for cancer has multiplied and there are many other alternatives to study. Most are aiming for targeted, more personalized and con fewer side effects.
One of these targeted therapies has just been approved by ANMAT to treat these patients early stage breast cancerprecisely to prevent the recurrence of the disease.
This drug had already been used since 2019 in patients with metastatic cancer, in which it has obtained results a significant increase in survival. “More than 90% of patients live to three years, and this is essential because they are high-risk patients,” says Cáceres.
But even in clinical studies it has been shown that reduces the risk of recurrence by 30% three-year disease in non-metastatic cancer.
“We have to continue to see what happens in the years to come, but these poor prognosis patients tend to relapse rapidly, most in the first and second year. When you see these results, they are very encouraging”, Points out Cáceres.
The drug, which is called abemaciclib and what is it covered by the mandatory medical plan, inhibits the cyclins CDK4 and CDK6, which are proteins that regulate the cell cycle. Like this slows down cell proliferation and consequently the development of cancer cells.
“Has a selective actionit is more effective and less toxic “, says Costanzo of this pill, which is taken twice a day for two years and does not cause falling or vomiting, although he may have possible side effect diarrhea in the first 45 or 60 days of treatment.
There are two other drugs on the market that have a similar mechanism of action, but they are all used only in advanced disease. Abemaciclib is the first to give good results in the early stages. “This drug is the only one that so far in a preventive way with surgery, radiotherapy, hormonal therapy and chemotherapy, can improve the prognosis of these patients”, Closes Cáceres.
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