Breast cancer is one of the most widespread types of cancer among women worldwide. It has been reported that 1 in 8 women are at risk of developing breast cancer during their lifetime.

However, thanks to early detection and improved treatments, the survival rate of breast cancer patients has increased significantly over the past few decades. Yet, traditional breast cancer treatments such as surgery, radiation therapy, and chemotherapy may not be effective for some patients.

This is where personalized breast cancer treatments come into play, offering a promising solution for women with this serious condition.

What is Personalized Breast Cancer Treatment?

Personalized or precision medicine is an approach that tailors medical treatment to an individual’s genetic, environmental, and lifestyle factors.

In breast cancer, personalized treatments involve analyzing the genetic mutations in tumor cells that allow cancer to grow and spread. Thus, doctors can identify the molecular changes in the tumor and select a specific, targeted therapy that is most likely to be effective in battling the disease.

Benefits of Personalized Breast Cancer Treatments

Personalized breast cancer treatments offer several advantages over traditional treatments, including:.

Increased effectiveness: Targeted therapies are more likely to be effective than traditional treatments targeting all rapidly dividing cells, including healthy cells.
Reduced side effects: Because targeted therapies focus only on the cancer cells, they are less likely to lead to harmful side effects that occur in other parts of the body.
Improved quality of life: The reduced side effects and improved effectiveness of personalized treatments can lead to a better quality of life for patients.

Types of Personalized Breast Cancer Treatments

There are currently three main types of personalized breast cancer treatments:.

HER2-targeted therapy: HER2 is a protein that promotes the growth of breast cancer cells, making it a target for therapy. HER2-targeted drugs, such as trastuzumab and lapatinib, block the protein, slowing or stopping cancer growth.
Endocrine therapy: Endocrine therapy is used for those with ER-positive or PR-positive (estrogen receptor and progesterone receptor positive) breast cancer. The therapy works by reducing estrogen levels and preventing the hormone from binding to the receptors on cancer cells.
PARP inhibitors: PARP inhibitors are used for patients with BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene mutations. These inhibitors block the PARP enzyme, leaving cancer cells with damaged DNA unable to repair themselves, causing them to die.

Challenges of Personalized Breast Cancer Treatment

Although personalized breast cancer treatments offer many benefits to patients, there are still several challenges facing the development and widespread implementation of these therapies. Some of these challenges include:.

Accessibility: Personalized treatments are expensive, and not all insurance policies will cover such treatments. Hence, accessibility to personalized therapies can be a barrier for some patients.
Availability: Currently, only a handful of personalized therapies are available, and more research is needed to develop new treatments for various breast cancer subtypes.
False positives: Not all patients will benefit from personalized treatments, and further studies are needed to determine which patients will be responsive to which types of therapies.

Conclusion

Breast cancer is a serious disease affecting millions of women worldwide, and current traditional treatments may not be equally effective for each patient.

Personalized breast cancer treatment provides a new hope for patients who do not respond well to traditional therapies. Although there are several challenges to the implementation of these therapies, research in this area shows promising results and offers a glimpse into a future where precision medicine will play a critical role in treating breast cancer for women.