{"id":198109,"date":"2025-10-02T21:52:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-02T21:52:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/198109\/"},"modified":"2025-10-02T21:52:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-02T21:52:07","slug":"new-test-may-help-predict-if-stage-0-breast-cancer-will-become-invasive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/198109\/","title":{"rendered":"New Test May Help Predict if Stage 0 Breast Cancer Will Become Invasive\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

For women diagnosed with abnormal breast changes<\/a> at an early stage, a new study suggests genetic analysis may help answer a crucial question: Will these cells progress to invasive breast cancer?<\/p>\n

DCIS and LCIS are abnormal cells confined to the milk ducts or lobules (milk-producing glands in the breast ducts).<\/p>\n

Predicting which women with DCIS or LCIS are most likely to develop invasive breast cancer<\/a> is vital to providing the best possible treatment options, because not all cases of stage 0 breast cancer proceed that way, says the first author,\u00a0Jasmine Timbres<\/a>, a clinical information analyst at King\u2019s College in London.<\/p>\n

Because it\u2019s currently impossible to know which women will eventually develop invasive breast cancer, many undergo treatments they may not need, according to the study authors, including surgery, radiation, or hormone therapy.<\/p>\n

The researchers behind the new study hope a genetic test to identify those most at risk will eventually pave the way toward more personalized treatment decisions.<\/p>\n

Genetic Risk Score Helped Predict the Trajectory of DCIS and LCIS<\/p>\n

The study followed more than 2,000 women in the United Kingdom who had been diagnosed with preinvasive stage 0 breast cancers. About 90 percent had DCIS, and the rest had LCIS.<\/p>\n

The researchers used DNA analysis to scrutinize these cancers for 313 common genetic variants, combining the results into what\u2019s called a genetic risk score.<\/p>\n

Women with higher scores were more likely to develop invasive breast cancer later on. Importantly, the genetic score predicted risk regardless of other factors such as age or treatment type.<\/p>\n

\u201cUntil now, treatment decisions have mostly been based on how these cells look under a microscope,\u201d says Timbres. But these findings suggest that predicting which women are more likely to develop invasive breast cancer shouldn\u2019t just rely on those methods, she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe also need to consider a woman\u2019s genetic risk, family history<\/a>, and lifestyle factors. By looking at the full picture, we can give women more accurate information about their personal risk of recurrence. This will help them make more informed choices about their treatment options and what\u2019s right for them,\u201d says Timbres.<\/p>\n

A Step Toward More Personalized Care\u201cThe findings could be very useful for both the clinical community and patients. Currently, we do not have a reliable system to predict which women with DCIS or LCIS will go on to develop invasive cancer,\u201d says\u00a0Arya Roy, MD<\/a>, a breast medical oncologist with the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center in Columbus. A medical oncologist treats cancer with medications like chemotherapy or hormone therapy, as opposed to surgery or radiation.<\/p>\n

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The risk score may identify those at higher risk of developing further breast cancers, whether in the same breast or the opposite breast, says Dr. Roy, who wasn\u2019t involved in the research. \u201cIt highlights the potential for genetic risk scores to guide more personalized care in this setting,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

What would that look like in practice? If the findings are confirmed, the risk score could help doctors tailor recommendations for surveillance intensity and risk-reduction strategies, including medications like tamoxifen or aromatase inhibitors, specifically for those high-risk women, says Roy.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the same time, women found to be at lower risk might be able to avoid unnecessary treatments and the side effects that come with them. The risk score has the potential to improve outcomes for high-risk patients while reducing overtreatment and optimizing healthcare resources for those at lower risk,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

The Study Has Some Limitations<\/p>\n

May Chen, MD<\/a>, a medical oncologist at Stanford Medicine in California, says the study is promising, but its findings shouldn\u2019t be used to drive treatment decisions for patients, at least not yet.<\/p>\n

She says it\u2019s possible the genetic risk score could help determine risk level for women with stage 0 breast cancer, and potentially be used to guide women who would not otherwise consider treatment for their DCIS or LCIS lesions.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s hard to know whether it could influence treatment outcomes, since this is a retrospective study and not based on prospective information,\u201d says Dr. Chen, who wasn\u2019t involved in the new research. In other words, the current study looked backward in time at existing patient records, instead of following people over time to see what happened.<\/p>\n

That means the results can show a possible link, but they can\u2019t prove that using the genetic test would change treatment decisions or improve cancer outcomes.<\/p>\n

These findings need to be validated in further studies and with a bigger sample size, especially in women with LCIS, says Chen.<\/p>\n

Future studies need to include women of different races and ethnicities to see if the findings would apply more broadly \u2014 the British and European population in this study were almost completely white women, she notes.<\/p>\n

Should Women With Stage 0 Breast Cancer Ask for Genetic Testing?<\/p>\n

If a woman has been diagnosed with preinvasive breast cancer, genetic testing<\/a> can sometimes give more information about the risk of developing invasive breast cancer in the future, says Roy.<\/p>\n

\u201cGenetic testing may provide useful information, but the decision is personalized and should be made together with a healthcare team,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

If a woman with stage 0 breast cancer is considering genetic testing, Roy offers the following considerations:<\/p>\n

Genetic testing can look for inherited gene changes (like BRCA1, BRCA2, or other gene variants) that may increase breast cancer risk.Knowing the results can help guide screening decisions, preventive measures, or treatment options.Not every woman with DCIS or LCIS needs genetic testing. It\u2019s most helpful for those with a strong family history of breast or ovarian cancer, younger age at diagnosis, or other risk factors.A genetic counselor can review personal and family history, explain the pros and cons of testing, and help interpret the results.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For women diagnosed with abnormal breast changes at an early stage, a new study suggests genetic analysis may…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":198110,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[50],"tags":[200,79],"class_list":["post-198109","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-genetics","tag-genetics","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198109","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=198109"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198109\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/198110"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=198109"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=198109"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=198109"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}