Are Short-Term or Long-Term Recurrence Rates More Important in Breast Cancer Screening?
Authors: Emiel J.T. Rutgers, Lajos Pusztai, René Bernards
Journal: Annals of Internal Medicine (2008)

Letters2 September 2008Are Short-Term or Long-Term Recurrence Rates More Important in Breast Cancer Screening?Emiel J.T. Rutgers, MD, PhD, Lajos Pusztai, MD, PhD, and René Bernards, PhDEmiel J.T. Rutgers, MD, PhDFrom The Netherlands Cancer Institute, 1066 CX Amsterdam, the Netherlands; M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX 77230; and Agendia BV, 1098 SM Amsterdam, the Netherlands.Search for more papers by this author, Lajos Pusztai, MD, PhDFrom The Netherlands Cancer Institute, 1066 CX Amsterdam, the Netherlands; M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX 77230; and Agendia BV, 1098 SM Amsterdam, the Netherlands.Search for more papers by this author, and René Bernards, PhDFrom The Netherlands Cancer Institute, 1066 CX Amsterdam, the Netherlands; M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX 77230; and Agendia BV, 1098 SM Amsterdam, the Netherlands.Search for more papers by this authorAuthor, Article, and Disclosure Informationhttps://doi.org/10.7326/0003-4819-149-5-200809020-00014 SectionsAboutFull TextPDF ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissions ShareFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail TO THE EDITOR:The recent review by Marchionni and colleagues (1), which compares several multigene signatures for breast cancer prognosis, states that for the MammaPrint (Agendia BV, Amsterdam, the Netherlands) 70-gene test, “[f]ifteen percent of patients with the good-prognosis signature had recurrence by 10 years, demonstrating that when the 70-gene signature is used alone in this mixed population, the long-term risk in the good-prognosis group may not be low enough to justify forgoing chemotherapy.” At first glance, this recurrence rate (14.7%) does seem high when compared with that of the OncotypeDX test (Genomic Health, Redwood City, California), which was only ...References1. Marchionni L, Wilson RF, Wolff AC, Marinopoulos S, Parmigiani G, Bass EB, et al. Systematic review: gene expression profiling assays in early-stage breast cancer. Ann Intern Med. 2008;148:358-69. [PMID: 18252678] LinkGoogle Scholar2. Paik S, Shak S, Tang G, Kim C, Baker J, Cronin M, et al. A multigene assay to predict recurrence of tamoxifen-treated, node-negative breast cancer. N Engl J Med. 2004;351:2817-26. [PMID: 15591335] CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar3. van de Vijver MJ, He YD, van't Veer LJ, Dai H, Hart AA, Voskuil DW, et al. A gene-expression signature as a predictor of survival in breast cancer. N Engl J Med. 2002;347:1999-2009. [PMID: 12490681] CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar4. Ravdin PM. Overview of randomized trials of systemic adjuvant therapy. Cancer Treat Res. 2000;103:157-81. [PMID: 10948446] CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar5. Early Breast Cancer Trialists' Collaborative Group. Tamoxifen for early breast cancer: an overview of the randomised trials. Lancet. 1998;351:1451-67. [PMID: 9605801] CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar6. Early Breast Cancer Trialists' Collaborative Group (EBCTCG). Effects of chemotherapy and hormonal therapy for early breast cancer on recurrence and 15-year survival: an overview of the randomised trials. Lancet. 2005;365:1687-717. [PMID: 15894097] CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar7. Cardoso F, Van't Veer L, Rutgers E, Loi S, Mook S, Piccart-Gebhart MJ. Clinical application of the 70-gene profile: the MINDACT trial. J Clin Oncol. 2008;26:729-35. [PMID: 18258980] CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar8. Buyse M, Loi S, van't Veer L, Viale G, Delorenzi M, Glas AM, et al; TRANSBIG Consortium. Validation and clinical utility of a 70-gene prognostic signature for women with node-negative breast cancer. J Natl Cancer Inst. 2006;98:1183-92. [PMID: 16954471] CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar Author, Article, and Disclosure InformationAuthors: Emiel J.T. Rutgers, MD, PhD; Lajos Pusztai, MD, PhD; René Bernards, PhDAffiliations: From The Netherlands Cancer Institute, 1066 CX Amsterdam, the Netherlands; M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX 77230; and Agendia BV, 1098 SM Amsterdam, the Netherlands.Disclosures: Dr. Bernards is an employee of Agendia BV, which invented and developed the MammaPrint breast cancer prognosis test. PreviousarticleNextarticle Advertisement FiguresReferencesRelatedDetailsSee AlsoSystematic Review: Gene Expression Profiling Assays in Early-Stage Breast Cancer Luigi Marchionni , Renee F. Wilson , Antonio C. Wolff , Spyridon Marinopoulos , Giovanni Parmigiani , Eric B. Bass , and Steven N. Goodman Are Short-Term or Long-Term Recurrence Rates More Important in Breast Cancer Screening? Steven N. Goodman , Luigi Marchionni , and Antonio C. Wolff Metrics 2 September 2008Volume 149, Issue 5Page: 357KeywordsAdjuvant chemotherapyBreast cancerBreast cancer screeningChemotherapyConflicts of interestEstrogensGenomicsRisk assessmentsSurgery ePublished: 2 September 2008 Issue Published: 2 September 2008 Copyright & PermissionsCopyright © 2008 by American College of Physicians. All Rights Reserved.PDF downloadLoading ...