Breast Cancer Management

Breast Cancer

With a 2008 estimate of 207,000 new cases and 46,000 deaths in the United States and Canada, breast cancer is the most frequently diagnosed cancer and the second leading cause of death from cancer in women. Less than 1% of all breast cancers occur in men.

According to the Canadian Cancer Society, it is expected that one in nine women will develop breast cancer during her lifetime, and one in 27 will die of it. The global survival rate over five years is 89% but falls to 26% when breast cancer has spread to distant organs. Appropriate risk assessment of the cancer after the initial treatment will facilitate critical treatment decisions and may increase the probability of recurrence-free survival, while avoiding ineffective treatments and related cost.

Useful link*

* DiagnoCure is not responsible for for content presented on external websites.

Shc Proteins for Breast Cancer

In August 2007, DiagnoCure acquired Catalyst Oncology and its lead proprietary prognostic tests for breast, colon and potentially other cancers. The newly acquired tests have the potential to increase clinician and patient confidence when making critical treatment decisions.

The Shc protein-based tests have been validated in multiple clinical studies involving patients with five tumor types, including breast and colon. Results have shown the tests to be strong indicators for a patient’s risk of disease recurrence, as well as predictors of response to certain cancer therapies, such as tamoxifen or traditional chemotherapy. The tests measure the level of activated tyrosine phosphorylated (PY) Shc protein and p66 Shc protein in tissue specimens. The Shc proteins are involved in a number of well documented cellular pathways that are correlated with tumor aggressiveness across many types of cancer, offering a broad opportunity for clinical testing.

Appropriate risk assessment of breast cancer after the initial treatment will facilitate critical treatment decisions and may increase the probability of recurrence-free survival, while avoiding ineffective treatments and related cost.