Breast Cancer – Oncotype DX
Patients with early-stage breast cancer do not benefit equally from the use of chemotherapy. Patients with the best prognosis having small tumours and lymph node negative have an approximate 15% risk of disease recurrence, while the remainder will be disease-free at ten years with tamoxifen treatment alone and could avoid chemotherapy if they could be accurately identified.
Better predictors of breast cancer recurrence risk and likely benefit of chemotherapy are needed which would allow for better, more informed treatment decisions to be made by both the clinician and the patient.
Oncotype DX is a breast cancer assay developed and performed by Genomic Health at their CLIA accredited facility in Redwood City, USA. It is a gene-expression assay that has been shown to predict both disease recurrence, and the likely benefit of chemotherapy.
The test analyses the expression of 21 genes on formalin-fixed paraffin embedded tissue. The result produced is the Recurrence Score (RS), that is calculated using the gene expression values of each gene tested.
Oncotype DX has been extensively evaluated in multiple independent studies with evidence obtained in more than 4000 breast cancer patients, including a large validation study published in The New England Journal of Medicine1, and a chemotherapy benefit study published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology2.
Healthscope Pathology is the partner of Genomic Health in Australia and can now assist both patients and clinicians with Oncotype DX testing.
For further details on Oncotype DX click on the following links.
www.oncotypedx.com or www.mytreatmentdecision.com
Ordering Oncotype DX
For information on how to order Oncotype DX, please contact our product specialists on:
0424 750 403
or Email : oncotype@healthscope.com.au
or Fax: 03 9543 5611