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21 July 2008
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'Ethnicity should be taken into account in breast cancer research'
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MedWire News: A patient's ethnicity should be taken into account in breast cancer research, say researchers who point out that people from certain ethnic backgrounds may benefit more from particular drugs than those from other ethnic backgrounds.
Writing in The Lancet, Dr Carlo Palmieri, from Imperial College London, in the UK, and colleagues explain that although breast cancer is a disease that predominantly affects people in the economically developed world, breast cancer rates are rising rapidly in Asian and developing countries.
However, they add that most landmark trials in breast cancer have been conducted in Europe, North America and Australasia, among a predominantly White population.
Furthermore, evidence shows that certain types of breast cancer are more prevalent in African-American and West African populations, suggesting that various forms of the disease may be affected by the genetic make-up common to particular ethnicities.
These genetic differences may therefore influence the effectiveness of particular medications, says the team.
The researchers highlight the example of a drug called trasztuzumab, which is commonly used to treat people with HER-2 positive breast cancer. Although most studies of trasztuzumab did not report the ethnicity of participants, a recent study found that people with a particular 'genotype' responded better than others to treatment with this drug.
This genotype is more common in some ethnic groups than in others, indicating that an individual's ethnicity could be a key factor in determining the types of medication that are likely to be of greatest benefit, argues the team.
Dr Palmieri said: "Everyone responds differently to treatment and it's often very difficult to predict how well someone will respond to a particular drug. However, evidence is now emerging that shows how your genes might influence whether or not a particular treatment can help you."
He concluded: "There are small genetic differences between people from different ethnic backgrounds and it is really important that we find out whether these genetic differences mean that certain drugs perform well in people from certain ethnic groups but not in others. It's only by doing this that we can make sure each individual receives the best possible care."
Lancet 2008; 372:188-189
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet
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