Contents - Medicinski Fakultet u Sarajevu - University of Sarajevo

Oral presentationBREAST CANCER–TODAY AND TOMORROWZerina JašarevicInstitute of Pathology,University Hospital Feldkirch,6800 Feldkirch, AustriaE-mail: Zerina.Jasarevic@lkhf.atThe incidence of breast cancer in Austria has been increasinglast 10 years by 38%, however, mortality at thesame being reduced by 25%. Between 6 and 10% ofbreast cancers are metastatic at the time of first diagnosis.The breast cancer arises as a product of interactionof multiple factors, nowadays classified into twogroups: gene-environment and gene-gene interactions.The classical clinical and pathological parameters are,especially in early stages of the disease, insufficient regardingthe therapeutical choices and prognosis, oftenassociated with side effects and high costs.The pathological prognostic parameters (type, size,grade, angioinvasion, lymph node status, ER, PR andHER-2 status) and other prognostic system (NPI and StGallen consensus) are more and more frequently completedwith novel molecular tests. The latter includedDNA microarray method (Amsterdam signature or“Mammaprint” and RT-PCR method or Oncotyp Dx).The significance of those tests in clinical practice is beingtested through a number of large international studies(MINDACT and TAYLOR X). Some of the methodsare expected to become an important part of standardprocedures in an attempt to gather better and wider informationabout tumor biology and tumor sensitivityto therapy. It is becoming apparent the good correlationof molecular and genetic results with clinical parametersand their supportive role in diagnostics.The main goal of clinical studies and so-called translationalresearch worldwide is an early detection of thegroup of about 30% of breast cancer patients expectedto die of disease and their distinction against the rest ofthe patients surviving the disease, measured against today’sstandards. The significance of such developmentlies most importantly in identification and distinctionbetween two groups of patients, those responding andthose not responding to the chemotherapy and targettherapy.25