研究为乳腺癌治疗带来新曙光

研究为乳腺癌带来新曙光
THURSDAY, Sept. 6 (HealthDay News) -- New studies from the first annual Breast Cancer Symposium shed light on racial differences in breast cancer, how not sticking with treatment can affect survival, and how nagging side effects cause people to stop their therapies.
九月六日,星期四(每日健康新闻)--在第一届乳腺癌年会上发布的新研究为乳腺癌的在不同人种之间的差异、为什么跟踪治疗不能影响生存率和为什么恼人的副作用致使病人停止治疗提供了线索。

The symposium, held in San Francisco, is co-sponsored by the American Society of Breast Disease, the American Society of Breast Surgeons, the American Society of Clinical Oncology, the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology, the National Consortium of Breast Centers, and the Society of Surgical Oncology.
本次在旧金山举行的年会是由美国乳腺疾病学会、美国乳腺外科医生学会、美国临床肿瘤学学会、美国放射治疗学和肿瘤学学会、国立乳腺中心协会和外科肿瘤学学会共同主办的。

An estimated 180,000 new cases of breast cancer will be diagnosed in the United States in 2007, and more than 40,000 people will die from the disease. After lung cancer, breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in women.
美国在2007年估计会有180,000个病例会确诊为乳腺癌，并且超过40,000人将死于乳腺癌。位列肺癌之后，乳腺癌在妇女的癌致死量中排第二位。

Although the overall incidence of breast cancer is lower in black women than white women, survival rates are lower among black women. Black women also have a higher incidence of the disease at younger ages and tend to be diagnosed at later stages.
尽管黑人妇女在乳腺癌的总体发病率上要比白人妇女低，但黑人妇女的生存率也较低。黑人妇女还具有年轻妇女发病率较高和往往在后期才被确诊的特点。

Experts point to socioeconomic factors as the reason for much of this discrepancy, but, as one study presented at the meeting showed, the tumor's biology also plays a role.
专家指出社会经济因素是这个差异的主要原因，但本次会议上发表的一项研究表明，肿瘤生物学也起了一定作用。

After analyzing data on more than 170,000 cases of breast cancer in both black and white U.S. women, investigators concluded that, among invasive cancers, estrogen receptor (ER)-negative tumors were significantly more frequent in black women at all stages of the disease and in all age categories.
在分析了美国黑人和白人妇女中均超过170,000项乳腺癌病例的数据之后，研究人员得出结论，在浸润性癌中，黑人妇女在发病各个阶段及各个年龄范围中雌激素阴性肿瘤明显更为常见。

ER-negative tumors have a less favorable prognosis than ER-positive tumors, which have more treatment options.
雌激素阴性肿瘤预后要比阳性肿瘤差，因为后者可选的治疗方案更多。

Thirty-nine percent of black women had ER-negative tumors compared with 22 percent of white women.
雌激素阴性肿瘤在黑人妇女中的比例为39%，而白人妇女为22%。

Black women were also diagnosed at a younger age (57 years of age on average for black women versus 62 for white women) and at a later stage of the disease (29 percent of black women were stage 1 versus 42 percent of white women).
黑人妇女确诊的发病年龄更早（黑人妇女平均57岁，白人妇女62），确诊时期更晚（黑人妇女在1期确诊为29%而白人为42%）。

\"We need to understand this better, to give these women as good an outcome as we can,\" said study lead author Dr. M. Catherine Lee, a clinical lecturer in the department of surgery at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center in Ann Arbor, at a Wednesday teleconference.
在周三的一个电话会议上，来自Ann Arbor的Michigan大学综合癌症中心的外科系临床讲师、本研究的领导作者M. Catherine Lee医生说，“我们需要更好地理解这些，给这些妇女我们所能及的最好的结果。”

A second study found that 10 percent of women filled 70 percent or less of their prescriptions for tamoxifen, a drug taken by many cancer survivors to prevent recurrences.
第二项研究发现10%的妇女服用的tamoxifen仅有甚至少于处方中给出的量的70%。这种药物被许多癌症存活者服用以防止复发。

Tamoxifen has been shown to reduce the recurrence of ER-positive breast cancer when used after primary treatment. Women who often skipped tamoxifen had a 16 percent increased risk of death compared to women who filled all their prescriptions, the researchers noted.
在一期治疗之后服用,Tamoxifen可以降低雌激素阳性乳腺癌的复发。研究人员指出，经常不服tamoxifen的妇女要比按处方服用的妇女死亡率高16%。

Although the study did not look specifically at why women were dropping the treatment, side effects may play a role.
尽管此项研究没有特别指明为什么妇女经常停止治疗，但副作用应该是一个原因。

\"Most women who take tamoxifen know it can have substantial and life-affecting side effects such as hot flashes, which can make life misery,\" said Dr. Alastair Thompson, lead author of the study and a professor of surgical oncology at the University of Dundee in Scotland. \"It could be that those sorts of side effects we've downplayed in the past are factoring in,\" he said.
本研究的领导作者，苏格兰Dundee大学的肿瘤外科教授Alastair Thompson医生说：“多数服用tamoxifen的妇女知道它会有实质性的且永久性的副作用，比如潮热症，使得生活相当痛苦。”他还说：“这也是这类的副作用我们在过去不予重视导致的。”

\"Taking your pills really matters,\" added Dr. Julie Gralow, moderator of the teleconference and associate professor of medical oncology at the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle.
电话会议的主持人，西雅图华盛顿大学医学院医学肿瘤学副教授Julie Gralow医生也表示：“服用你的药片确实事关重大。”

A third and final study found that 13 percent of women taking aromatase inhibitors -- drugs that inhibit the production of estrogen for ER-positive breast cancer patients -- stopped this treatment due to musculoskeletal side effects such as rotator cuff tendonitis, carpal tunnel syndrome and osteoarthritis.
第三项也是最后一项研究发现13%的服用芳香酶抑制剂的妇女——一种抑制雌激素阳性乳腺癌患者分泌雌激素的药物——由于肌骨骼的副作用停止了服用。这些副作用包括肩袖肌腱炎、腕管综合症和骨关节炎。

Overall in the trial, 42 percent of women reported some sort of musculoskeletal side effect.
总体上，在试验中有42%的妇女报告有某些的肌骨胳副作用。

\"There were a surprising number of women who stopped therapy,\" acknowledged Dr. N. Lynn Henry, study lead author and a clinical lecturer at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center. \"But we were unable to find predictive factors. We need more research.\"
本研究的领导作者，密歇根大学综合癌症中心的临床讲师Lynn Henry医生承认，“停止治疗的妇女的数量多的令人惊讶，但我们发现不了可预见性的因素。我们需要更多的研究。”

It was also unclear why the aromatase inhibitors were causing these aches and pains.
也不清楚为什么芳香酶抑制剂会导致这些疼痛和痛苦。

\"We need to acknowledge that this is something that is truly affecting our patients, and we need to figure out the mechanism for these symptoms and how best to manage them so our patients can get this important treatment,\" Gralow said.
“我们需要承认确实有些东西在影响我们的病人，并且我们需要指出这些症状的机制和如何最好地处理它们，让我们的病人能得到这项重要的治疗，” Gralow说。

Most of the women who discontinued treatment with aromatase inhibitors switched to another therapy, Henry said.
Henry说，大部分中断芳香酶抑制剂治疗的妇女转而采用别的治疗。