Researchers have found a gene that makes breast cancer tumors more likely to resist treatments such as chemotherpay and more likely to spread to other organs.  Terming this new gene as the "metastasis gene", researchers have found this in 30-40% of the breast cancer patients.

Avastin when combined with chemotherapy has shown results that indicate a longer progression-free interval in advanced breast cancer patients than chemotherapy alone.  These results were from a Phase III clinical trial and showed Avastin treatment for HER2-negative breast cancer was effective.

The response of Breast Cancer to insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) predicts an aggressive breast cancer tumor that is less likely to respond to treatment. This was the result of breast cancer research conducted by researchers at the Baylor College of Medicine.

According to research published in the March issue of Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention, women whose breast cancer came back after treatment had almost twice as much estrogen in their blood than did women who remained cancer free. The findings suggest that high levels of estrogen contribute to an increased risk of breast cancer recurrence.

In an effort to reduce symptoms associated with menopause, doctors have presribed hormone replacement therapy (HRT) to many women, and in turn could have increased the risk of breast cancer for these women. One of the prescribed hormones as part of HRT is synthetic progestin. Researchers have found that this hormone used as part of HRT could be a major factor in promoting breast cancer.

Breast Cancer in young women has been known to be much more aggressive and less responsive to treatment than in older women.  The rate of recurrence in younger patients has traditionally be higher and survival rates lower in patients diagnosed with the disease at a younger age.  Researchers at Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center and the Duke Institute of Genome Science & Policy may have discovered why.

Radiation Treatment

Being diagnosed with breast cancer is in itself a shock. Being diagnosed with a rare form of breast cancer known as phyllodes tumors is even a bigger shock. Researchers have found that the risk of local recurrance of phyllode tumor breast cancer maybe lowered by combining radiation therapy in addition to surgery.

Enzyme & Breast Cancer

Researchers at McGill University have linked an enzyme's role in the onset of breast cancer.  The enzyme "focal adhesion kinase" (FAK) has been shown to play a crucial role in breast cancer and could be a major step towards stopping the progression of the disease.

Breast cancer patients continue to have a substantial risk of their cancer reocurring after five years of systemic therapy. Researchers at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas have published a report in the Journal of the National Cancer Insititute outlining the risk of a recurrence.

Finding a cure for breast cancer would be a major news story and tremendous news for breast cancer patients.  As many scientists make major advancements in their research, the dreams of a cure for breast cancer may soon be a reality.  Australian scientists have identified a way to "switch off" a molecule, a key player in the molecular processes that trigger breast cancer and certain forms of leukaemia.