POETIC breast cancer trial

Making personalised treatment a clinical reality is a challenge that is being pioneered in a landmark breast cancer trial – the largest of its kind – which was initiated in October 2009.

This clinical trial, named POETIC, aims to find out if testing breast cancer cells after just two weeks of hormone treatment can help predict how well a woman’s breast cancer will respond.

The trial will study over 4,000 post-menopausal women with early-stage, hormone-sensitive breast cancer where surgery is usually the first treatment, followed by hormone therapy for at least five years to help reduce the risk of breast cancer coming back.

Trial methodology

For the first time, patients in the trial will be given hormone therapy using a type of drug called aromatase inhibitor (letrozole) for two weeks before surgery, and then thereafter for five years.

Scientists at The Royal Marsden will study the molecular effects of this treatment in the tumour that is removed at surgery, and hope to understand the biology of these cancers (i.e. which cancers stop growing with the drug, and which do not). This approach could personalise the treatment plan for each individual patient so that overall outcomes can be improved. This type of approach, if successful, could completely change how breast cancer is managed in the future.