New research suggests that advanced genetic testing could play a key role in reducing the stark differences in breast cancer survival rates between Black and white patients.
In the United States, Black women currently face a 40% higher risk of dying from breast cancer compared with white women, even though they have about a 5% lower chance of being diagnosed with the disease.
By analyzing early breast cancer tumor samples from over a thousand women, researchers discovered that Black women had a higher number of high-risk tumors tumors that standard clinical biomarker tests, like estrogen receptor status, often fail to detect. This under-detection can lead to under-treatment, which likely contributes to poorer outcomes for these patients.
Read Also – Belgian court mandates Poland and Romania to purchase $2.2 billion worth of Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines
When tumors were examined using commercially available gene-profiling tests and patients received the recommended treatment, Black women achieved the same “excellent” three-year outcomes as white women.
The tumor profiling was conducted using Agendia’s MammaPrint and BluePrint tests, which categorize early-stage tumors into Ultra Low, Low, High 1, or High 2 risk levels for spreading within the next ten years. These results provide critical guidance on whether chemotherapy is needed.
Researchers reported that Black women with low-risk tumors, as determined by MammaPrint and BluePrint, experienced “excellent 10-year outcomes,” with a 97.7% recurrence-free survival rate—matching the outcomes of white women.
Patients with high-risk tumors, on the other hand, were five to ten times more likely to develop distant metastases compared with those in the low-risk group, regardless of race. Interestingly, about half of the patients initially classified as low-risk were later found to have more aggressive tumors when genomic profiling was applied.
The findings suggest that “tumor genomic testing for all patients may help guide treatment decisions and ultimately reduce racial survival disparities among Black women with breast cancer,” said study coauthor Dr. Andrea Menicucci of Agendia.
HEART ATTACK SURVIVORS MAY NOT NEED LIFELONG BETA-BLOCKERS
A clinical trial from South Korea suggests that stable heart attack survivors with relatively low risk may safely discontinue commonly prescribed beta-blocker medications after one year, instead of taking them indefinitely.
In the study, researchers enrolled 2,540 patients who had recovered from a heart attack and were taking beta-blockers, including metoprolol (brand name Lopressor) and atenolol.
Patients who stopped taking the medication after at least 12 months showed similar risks of death, another heart attack, or hospitalization for heart failure compared with those who continued the drugs, according to findings presented at the American College of Cardiology scientific meeting in New Orleans.
Over a median follow-up of 3.5 years, 7.2% of patients who discontinued beta-blockers experienced one or more serious cardiac events, compared with 9% of those who stayed on the medication. Beta-blockers, which help reduce heart rate and blood pressure, have traditionally been a cornerstone of post-heart attack care to lower the risk of future cardiac events.
“In practice, for stable patients who are several years out from a heart attack, discontinuation can be considered through shared decision-making and with monitoring of blood pressure and heart rate,” study leader Dr. Joo-Yong Hahn of Samsung Medical Center in Seoul said in a statement.
“For patients with beta-blocker-related side effects —fatigue, dizziness, bradycardia, hypotension — the case for discontinuation is even stronger.”
COMMON ANTIDEPRESSANT EASES LONG COVID FATIGUE
In a recent clinical trial, the widely used and affordable antidepressant fluvoxamine was shown to significantly improve fatigue and overall quality of life in adults experiencing long COVID, according to researchers.
The study included 399 adults in Brazil who had persistent fatigue lasting at least 90 days following a confirmed SARS‑CoV‑2 infection. Participants were randomly assigned to receive either fluvoxamine, the commonly prescribed diabetes medication metformin, or a placebo for a 60-day period.
Results showed that fluvoxamine reduced fatigue more effectively than placebo, with a 99% probability that the drug outperformed the inactive treatment.
“Fluvoxamine showed consistent and meaningful benefits, and because it’s already widely used and well understood, it has clear potential for clinical use,” study leader Edward Mills of McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario said in a statement.
Metformin has previously been found to lower the risk of developing long COVID when taken during the initial phase of infection. However, in this study, it did not provide relief for individuals already experiencing fatigue from established long COVID.
“This trial gives clinicians their first strong evidence for a medication that helps reduce long COVID fatigue,” study coauthor Jamie Forrest of the University of British Columbia said in a statement.
Professor Christiaan Vinkers from Amsterdam University Medical Centre, who was not part of the study, cautioned that the results should be interpreted carefully. He noted that the study relied on patients’ self-reported symptoms and focused solely on fatigue, without evaluating other aspects of long COVID.
“The results are promising, but replication is essential, ideally in broader patient groups and with outcomes that capture the full spectrum of long COVID,” Vinkers said.
