Patients with a rare type of breast cancer may benefit from receiving radiation therapy in addition to surgery to prevent recurrence, according to a study in the July issue of the International Journal of Radiation Oncology*Biology*Physics, the official journal of the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology.

It takes more than one punch to fight tumors. Often, tumors have more than one way of surviving, and attacking the tumor alone is not enough. Now, in a new study, University of Missouri researchers have developed a new non-toxic treatment that effectively reduces breast cancer cells, by combining a small molecular drug that targets tumor cells with an antibody that causes selective shutdown of tumor blood vessels.

Researchers have discovered a new family of agents that inhibit the growth of estrogen-dependent breast cancer cells. The finding, described today at a meeting of the Endocrine Society, has opened an avenue of research into new drugs to combat estrogen-dependent breast cancers.

The targeted therapy Herceptin helps women with HER2+ type of breast cancer independent of whether patients have extra copies of chromosome 17, home to the HER2 gene which produces the HER2 protein that fuels cancer growth.

If there were a pill that would cut your risk of breast cancer in half, would you take it" What if you were told your risk of breast cancer was already below average"

A new study provides important insight into the mechanisms involved in resistance to treatment of breast cancer patients with trastuzumab (Herceptin). The research, published by Cell Press in the October issue of the journal Cancer Cell, identifies markers that may help to identify patients who are unlikely to respond to trastuzumab treatment and provides a potential strategy for treating these patients.

New published data from a large pan-European survey indicate that the majority of postmenopausal women with early breast cancer taking post-surgical endocrine therapy are not involved in making key decisions about their treatment, nor are they given sufficient information to make informed treatment choices that could affect their long-term outcome.

Giving chemotherapy to women with operable breast cancer before they have surgery -not after - helps physicians pin down the best treatment regimen and can reduce the extent of surgery, according to a new systematic review.

Ultrasound-guided cryoablation of small breast cancer may be a safe procedure associated with minimal morbidity and high patient satisfaction, according to a recent case report by radiologists at the University of Wisconsin Hospital & Clinics in Madison, WI.

Being obese increases the risk of breast cancer in post-menopausal women, shortens the time between return of the disease and lowers overall survival rates. Italian researchers speaking at Experimental Biology 2007 in Washington, DC, now report evidence on how leptin, a hormone found in fat cells, significantly influences breast cancer development and progression in mice.

Using breast cancer cells, researchers have demonstrated that cancer phenotype can be reversibly altered by manipulations other than genetic means. Breast cancer cells grown in 3-D culture can be induced to form normal breast duct-like structures, as opposed to dense cell masses, by activating or inhibiting specific signaling pathways, including antibody binding to the extracellular matrix protein fibronectin.