Our researchers have developed a new machine learning tool that could help doctors predict long term outcomes and treatment response for people with invasive lobular breast cancer. This could open up new treatment avenues and help avoid unnecessary chemo for some people with lobular breast cancer.
The tool, known as PSILC (Pathway-based Signature for Invasive Lobular Carcinoma), was developed as part of a study published earlier this year in the British Journal of Cancer.
Dr Syed Haider and Professor Chris Lord at the Breast Cancer Now Toby Robins Research Centre at The Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) looked at data from 8 separate studies - one of the largest analyses of its kind.
This allowed them to predict long-term outcomes and chemotherapy response and identify 16 potential targets for future drug discovery.
What is invasive lobular breast cancer?
Around 15% of all breast cancers are invasive lobular breast cancer. Invasive lobular breast cancers look different under the microscope from other types of breast cancer and are often more difficult to detect.
Although treatment is effective in many people with lobular breast cancer, these types of cancers are more likely to come back after initial treatment and people have a worse 10-year survival outcome.
So Chris and Syed wanted to understand which people are at higher risk of cancer returning, and identify new ways to specifically treat lobular breast cancer.
What are biological pathways?
For this, the researchers looked at groups of genes associated with different biological pathways. Biological pathways are like roadmaps that show how different genes and proteins interact within the body.
The study identified 25 pathways linked with patient outcomes. Among these, 3 pathways were found to be directly related to chemotherapy response.
In the future, this could help us understand which people are more likely to benefit from chemotherapy treatment.
Next steps
The researchers were also able to identify 16 genes that could serve as potential targets for future drug treatments. They hope these findings could be the starting point for discovering treatments that could work well in people with lobular breast cancer.
In the future, studies involving larger, more diverse patient groups will help researchers test this tool further. Future studies will also look to explore additional pathways that may help cancer progress.
Whilst there is still more work to be done, this research has improved our understanding of lobular breast cancer. And it paves the way for personalised treatments that could improve survival rates and people’s quality of life.
Help fund our research
Invasive lobular breast cancer affects 8,250 people each year in the UK. To help us continue funding research that aims to improve survival rates and develop effective treatments, please consider donating.