Breast cancer patients may be spared side-effects of chemo

Patients with an aggressive form of breast cancer could be spared unnecessary chemotherapy, thanks to Irish research.

Researchers at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland hope their work, which is at an early stage, could enable women who are unlikely to respond well to chemotherapy to avoid its side effects.

Led by PhD student Federico Lucantoni, who is funded by the Irish Cancer Society, the research has identified a mathematical formula to predict the effectiveness of chemotherapy on cells with triple-negative breast cancer.