Tag Archive for: breastcancerawareness

KRAS mutations in Breast cancer may be treatable

For decades, mutations in #KRAS have been known to cause cancers in multiple organs and the gene KRAS itself was considered ‘undruggable’. Of the many mutations, KRAS-G12C is known to occur in nearly 13% of #NSCLC cases. There were no known treatments that can target KRAS-G12C mutation until recently. May 2021 heralded the #fdaapproval of Sotorasib, granted to #amgen, for treatment of #lungcancer with the G12C mutation in KRAS. Exciting results showed a reduction in tumour burden in more than 37% of the trial participants. This paves the way for testing the efficacy of the drug in multiple other cancers harbouring this driver mutation.
Our data identified nearly 7.8% of breast cancer #FFPE samples bearing the KRAS-G12C mutation, bringing hope of this #drug to people with #breastcancer.

Sapien’s samples and real world data enables validation of a new Indian breast cancer test with high concordance to OncotypeDx test

In 2014, Sapien partnered with Oncostem Diagnostics to provide our curated breast cancer FFPE blocks and RWE 5 years treatment and recurrence outcome data to enable the validation of a new test to accurately determine the risk of recurrence in early stage breast ca patients. A key goal of the test was to identify patients at low risk that could avoid chemotherapy and its side-effects, a major benefit to #cancerpatients (see Sapien referenced in this & previous papers).

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/cam4.3495

It’s gratifying to see their first test, canAssist Breast for hormone positive breast cancer patients, perform equivalent to the gold standard Oncotype Dx test, a more expensive and higher TAT for Indian patients.

Our deep collection of matched FFPE blocks and longitudinal RWE data to enable precision medicine tests has continued to grow, both in breast cancer (>10,000 cases), and in #colorectalcancer, #lungcancer, #oralcancer, #kidneycancer, #ovariancancer #glioma #liver cancers. Contact us at  queries@sapienbio.com

The largest category of breast cancers are hormone receptor (HR) positive. These comprise 55-60% of all breast cancers globally as well as in India. Unlike triple negative breast cancer (TNBC), HR positive breast cancers respond well to personalized treatment with newer drugs and have a high chance of successful treatment and long-term survival even in advanced stages. Hence it is important to get them diagnosed and typed for HR positivity early on and tailor the treatment for each patient.

Breast Cancer Protection,

The Forum for Breast Cancer Protection, an NGO co-founded by caring oncologists and clinicians such as the inspiring, untiring Dr. Ramesh Sarin who continues to operate at the young age of 80 and give excellent care to her breast cancer patients. Col Pant, Dr. Sangeeta Taneja, @Karuna Sharma, Dipali Bhasin are catalysts that are active in organizing informative webinars and awareness sessions. This one on the 12th October was particularly memorable in that Ms. Sonam Kalra, a renowned singer, spoke of her mother who was diagnosed of lung cancer at the most advanced stage. She was given 6 months to live, but through her positive attitude, good routine and food, family and medical support, she lived life for 8 years, composing haikus till the end! Sonam spoke movingly of her mother and her determination to fight cancer. Her mother coined the term Cancer Samurai. Sonam sang ‘ek naam, satnam’ so beautifully it gave us goosebumps. What a treat. Then came the advice on how to use affirmation and visualization to think positively to heal our body and mind by Shivani ji, sage words in her soothing voice. Close your eyes, just listen, and feel the stress fade away.

20-30% of patients with potentially curable breast cancer develop metastasis, denying breast cancer samurais the high quality and length of life. We need to dedicate ourselves to understanding the molecular mechanism underlying Metastatic Breast Cancer which will help identify personalized screening and treatment approaches to fight metastasis