Lisa Dutton of Wynnewood, enrolled in a clinical trial that attempted to detect and kill dormant breast cancer cells before they reactivated. Photograph taken at her home on Friday, October 27, 2023.Just as she hoped to start a family, Denise Murray was diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer. Thirty years old and newly married, she felt it was too risky to consider pregnancy if she might not live to raise her children.
The early findings, presented at a European oncology conference in October, offer hope that treatment may one day reduce the likelihood of breast cancer fatally recurring. Now, with a $10 million federal grant to expand their proof-of-concept trial, Penn researchers seek to give patients greater certainty that they do not have to live in fear of their cancer returning.
DeMichele compares the phenomenon to bear hibernation: Bears go months without eating or drinking, their heart rate slows, and they remain sedentary through the long winter. Then one day, they wake up famished and emerge from their den to prowl the forest for food. At age 13, Murray had been treated with chemotherapy for lymphoma, a blood cancer thought to be unrelated to her breast cancer diagnosis. The chemotherapy she received in childhood had made it more likely that she would experience infertility. Now, additional chemotherapy and radiation could damage her reproductive health.
As part of the clinical trial, doctors extracted samples from patients’ pelvic bone — a reservoir rich with bone marrow — and tested them for dormant cancer cells.Roughly 200 people enrolled to have their bone marrow tested, and 51 were ultimately treated for dormant cancer cells. About half of the 51 had triple-negative breast cancer, which has a higher rate of recurrence than less aggressive forms. All but two remained cancer-free four years later.
Dutton said she hopes that by sharing her experience with others, she can be “an example for people to see there could be a light at the end of the tunnel,” and that clinical trials are worth considering, even if they may lead to additional treatment.
Source: Healthcare Press (healthcarepress.net)
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