Oncotype DX® Recurrence Scores in Europe and Middle East are Similar to Those in the United States

The distribution of Oncotype DX® Recurrence Scores among breast cancer patients in Europe and the Middle East is similar to what is seen among patients in the United States, suggesting that the test may also play an important clinical role in those regions. These results were presented at a major European cancer conference.

Although chemotherapy is recommended for many women with early-stage breast cancer, the benefit of chemotherapy varies. Identifying in advance those women who are most likely to benefit from chemotherapy may allow for more individualized treatment.

Oncotype DX is a genomic test that previously has been shown to predict the likelihood of cancer recurrence in women with early-stage, estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer that is treated with hormonal therapy. Women with a low risk of recurrence may derive little benefit from chemotherapy. Oncotype DX evaluates the activity of 21 genes from a sample of the patient’s cancer to determine the patient’s Recurrence Score. The Recurrence Score ranges from 0 to 100, with a higher score indicating a greater risk of recurrence. Oncotype DX has been added to U.S. medical guidelines for early-stage breast cancer.

To explore whether the Oncotype DX test produces similar results outside of the United States, researchers collected 2,676 tumor specimens from breast cancer patients in Europe and the Middle East. The Recurrence Score results for these specimens were compared to the Recurrence Score results for more than 90,000 U.S breast cancer specimens.

• 51% of samples from Europe and the Middle East were found to have a low Recurrence Score (RS 0-17), compared with 52% of samples from the United States.
• 12% of samples from the Europe and Middle East were found to have a high Recurrence Score (RS>31), compared with 13% of samples from the United States.

These results suggest that the distribution of Recurrence Scores among breast cancer patients in Europe and the Middle East is similar to what is seen in the United States. Oncotype DX may play an important clinical role in those regions as it does in the U.S. The test consistently finds that more than half of patients tested have a low risk of recurrence, suggesting that they are unlikely to benefit from chemotherapy.

Reference: Palmer G, Vaughn J, Schneider DJ, Haack B. The distribution of recurrence scores in Europe and Middle East (EME) compared with the US. Presented at Presented at the Joint ECCO 15-34^th ESMO Multidisciplinary Congress. Berlin, Germany, September 20-24, 2009. Abstract P-1332.