Precise medicine, digital tech boost breast cancer treatment
Editor's note:
Information technology, artificial intelligence and big data are playing increasingly significant roles in health care. This series on many sectors of the health industry is intended to demonstrate the role of advanced technology, intelligent systems and new inventions.
Shot by Dong Jun. Edited by Dong Jun. Reported by Cai Wenjun. Subtitles by Cai Wenjun.
Local medical experts have completed the world's biggest multi-omics genomic map on the most common type of breast cancer, which is expected to augment precise medication for patients and improve treatment effects, experts from the Shanghai Cancer Center said on Sunday.
Breast cancer is the most prevalent female cancer and its incidence continues to rise. There are 2.5 million breast cancer patients in China, which sees 120,000 women killed by the disease annually.
"Early screening, efficient and proper diagnosis, as well as precise treatment are key for breast cancer prevention and control. This research targets the type that covers 70 percent of breast cancer cases," according to Dr Shao Zhimin, director of the hospital's breast surgery department and a leading expert of the research.
Shao said the current treatment mainly divides breast cancer into three types and offers different treatment.
Patients with Luminal type, the most common one, undergo endocrine therapy; HER2-positive type receive targeted medicine while chemotherapy is used for those with triple-negative type.
Dr Shao Zhimin from the Shanghai Cancer Center led his team to fulfill the subtyping of the most common type of breast cancer, augmenting precise medication for patients.
"Though the treatment plans in line with different breast cancer types have greatly improved patients' prognosis, about one third of them suffer drug resistance, relapse and metastasis," Shao noted.
"Moreover, the current standard treatment requires all patients with Luminal type to take medication for a long time, which has prolonged from two years to five years and now ten years to prevent relapse.
"But at least half of the patients can't get benefit from the long-term medication, while having to suffer side effects of the drugs. So we conducted a deep analysis through genomics, transcriptomics, metabonomics and proteomics to study the Luminal type, and found four subtypes."
The subtyping is complicated and time consuming but digital medicine has greatly hastened the process.
"Precise medicine needs tools to help doctors clearly and quickly classify breast cancer cases into different subtypes. Traditionally, the pathological examination process needs one to two weeks. Digital medicine and artificial technology are shortening the process to within one to two hours," Shao said. "As a result, doctors can provide detailed treatment plans immediately."
Medics do tests at the hospital's Precision Cancer Medicine Center.
"Our research is the world's first Luminal type classification and indicates useful treatment for each subtype. Based on this new subtyping policy, patients can receive more individualized treatment and many people needn't take medicines for so many years. This not only brings benefit but also relieves patients of much side effects," explained Shao, whose team has already carried out clinical trials of precise medicine based on the new theory.
"It will bring a new wave of reform to breast cancer treatment," he added. "Results of our clinical trials to report the results of patients with subtyping and relevant treatment will be released soon."
