Molecular Networks Predict Breast Cancer Survival
01 February 2009 - A woman’s chance of recovering from breast cancer can be predicted with more than 80 per cent accuracy, following the development of a new computer software called ‘DyNeMo’ that analyses changing patterns of protein activity within the body.
The study, published in Nature Biotechnology Journal, used data of more than 350 women and found that women who survive breast cancer have subtle differences in how proteins behave within a network, compared with patients who eventually succumb to the illness.
The collaboration was led by Canadian PhD candidate Ian Taylor and performed by scientists at The Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) and the Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute (Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto, Canada).
Co-researcher Dr Rune Linding said the software may be a useful technology for predicting an individual’s response to particular drugs.
“The identification of distinct network processes within our body that help predict cancer is a real step forward and we hope that it can help new therapies or screening techniques. The next step is to see if more networks can be identified and what other cancers we might be able to apply this to.”
