More than 1,400 breast cancers detected in Catalonia with mammograms

BarcelonaIn Catalonia, 5,439 cases of breast cancer were diagnosed last year, a hundred more than in 2023, according to data from the Department of Health. These cases represent 29% of all tumors detected in women, and nearly 80% affect women over 50 years of age. Patient survival is high—almost 90% five years after diagnosis and 84% ten years after—as is women's participation in the early detection program. In 2023, 443,608 women aged 50 to 69 were invited to undergo a mammogram, and two received one. Thus, 1,465 new cases were detected.

The Salut data also indicate that 1,080 women died last year from some type of breast cancer, and science is aware that a large proportion of these deaths correspond to metastasis, that is, when the tumor has spread to other organs, as well as to breast cancer. In this subtype, tumor cells do not express three receptors that are commonly used as therapeutic targets, and their progression is more aggressive.

Antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs), known as Trojan horses for their function, could be promising as more effective tools than chemotherapy to treat breast cancer in these more aggressive stages, according to a study published this Sunday by researchers from the International Breast Cancer Center.

The analysis, published in the scientific journal The New England Journal of Medicine, is based on 558 patients from 30 countries. Triple-negative breast cancer accounts for between 10 and 15% of breast cancers and can occur at any age, but is most common in young women. The study observed the progress of previously untreated patients with locally advanced, inoperable, or metastatic cancer at the time of diagnosis, to determine whether Trojan horses might offer more hope than conventional therapies.

But what's so different about these drugs, if they're also chemotherapy? ADCs are antibody drugs that target receptors located on the surface of cells and carry a hidden chemotherapy payload. When they bind to the receptor, they release the potent drug into the tumor cell and selectively destroy it. In conventional chemotherapy, the drug acts against rapidly dividing cells, but it doesn't distinguish between cancerous and healthy cells. With this approach, however, it does differentiate between them. According to this new study, Trojan horses could be proposed as first-line drugs, that is, as standard treatment.

Similar toxicity

Specifically, the researchers gave sacituzumab govitecan, one of these Trojan horse drugs, to one group of patients, while the others continued their conventional chemotherapy regimen. In the case of the first group, progression-free survival was 9.7 months, while in those treated with chemotherapy it was 6.9 months.

Furthermore, the response time for patients is almost doubled: with chemotherapy, the patient is treated and responds in about seven months, while with the Trojan horse, the period exceeds one year. And, regarding toxicity, adverse events were observed in 66% of patients treated with the antibody and in 62% of those treated with chemotherapy.