An international study led by University College London (UCL) has found that many people over 40 with hormone-sensitive breast cancer could safely avoid chemotherapy altogether.
The OPTIMA clinical trial, involving over 4,400 people, showed that a gene test can identify those unlikely to benefit from chemotherapy, meaning they can instead be treated with hormone therapy alone.
Researchers found that patients over 40 with a low Prosigna score – which measures gene activity linked to cancer growth – could skip chemotherapy without increasing the risk of their cancer returning.
Results of the trial, to be presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting in Chicago, suggest more than two‑thirds of patients fall into this low‑risk category.
After five years, survival rates were nearly identical. Some 94.8 per cent of patients who received chemotherapy alongside hormone therapy remained cancer‑free, compared with 93.6 per cent of those treated with hormone therapy alone.
