New drug shows promise for people with BRCA1 or 2 cancers

CANCER DIGEST – Nov. 10, 2014 – People with certain cancers that stem from mutations of the BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene may soon have another treatment option to slow the cancer progression.

In an early stage clinical trial of the twice-daily drug olaparib, 26 percent of patients had their tumors shrink or disappear for up to 7 months. The phase II trial was designed to determine whether tumors responded to the drug. Whether the drug significantly increases survival will need to be tested in larger phase III studies.

Daughters' breast cancer showing up earlier than their moms

(Photo courtesy National Institutes
of Health)

Sept. 12, 2011 (Cancer Digest) – What you don’t know can hurt you, and now researchers know that what you do know may hurt you sooner, at least as far genetic mutations for breast cancer are concerned.

A new study shows that women carriers of two genetic mutations that dramatically boost the risk of breast cancer are being diagnosed with breast cancer at an average age of 42 compared to age 48 for their mothers and aunts. The study was published online ahead of print in the journal Cancer.

Co-Author Dr. Jennifer Litton, assistant professor in MD Anderson Cancer Center’s department of Breast Medical Oncology, and colleagues say the study raises the possibility that having the genetic mutations in BRCA-1 or BRCA-2 may be causing cancer at an earlier age with each successive generation, a phenomenon called anticipation.

Chemotherapy before surgery gives big boost to women with BRCA1 gene

Women with the BRCA1 gene mutation
are more likely to achieve a complete
response with chemotherapy before
surgery. (Photo courtesy NCI.)

SEPT. 6, 2011 (CancerDigest) – If there is a silver lining to being a woman with the BRCA1 gene mutation that increases the risk of breast cancer, it is that they also have a good chance of responding to therapy. Almost half the women with the BRCA1 gene mutation who underwent chemotherapy before surgery achieved a complete response, meaning disappearance of all cancer based on microscopic examination of tissue samples in a recent study.

The study, led by Dr. Banu Arun, professor in the Department of Breast Medical Oncology at MD Anderson Cancer Center, is the largest to date to find that complete response rate is significantly higher in women with the BRCA1 mutation than for women with BRCA2 mutations. The study showed that 46 percent of the BRCA1 women achieved the complete response compared to 13 percent of those with BRCA2, and 22 percent of women without either gene mutation. The study was published online Sept. 6, 2011 in The Journal of Clinical Oncology.