Focus on: Breast Cancer
The Covid-19 pandemic has led to enormous disruption of NHS cancer care. The charity Breast Cancer Now, calculated that 10,700 fewer people were diagnosed with breast cancer between March and December 2020 than it would have expected. It has never been more vital that we take personal responsibility for our health.
What is Breast Cancer?
Breast cancer is cancer that starts in the breast tissue. The treatment you need depends on the type of breast cancer you have as well as your general health. Treatments include surgery, chemotherapy, hormone therapy, and radiotherapy.
Breast Cancer in the UK
Breast cancer is the most common cancer in the UK population
In UK women, around 54,700 new cases of breast cancer were diagnosed in 2017. In the same year in men, there were around 390 new cases
A woman born after 1960 and living in the UK has an estimated one in seven lifetime risk of developing breast cancer
In females aged 25-49, breast cancer is the most common cancer, accounting for more than four in 10 (44%) of all cases in 2014-2016.
How CCL can help with Breast Cancer
CCL looks to adopt new technologies early for diagnostics to help UK healthcare. Never more needed than after the Covid-19 pandemic. We have tests available to help diagnose or manage breast cancer.
BRCA 1/2 testing
We offer testing of both germline and somatic mutations to guide treatment pathways and give genetic information to families with a history of breast cancer
HER2 testing
HER2 is a growth-promoting protein on the outside of all breast cells. Breast cancer cells with higher than normal levels of HER2 are called HER2-positive. These cancers tend to grow and spread faster than other breast cancers, but are much more likely to respond to treatment with drugs that target the HER2 protein.
Testing is available to clinicians in order to guide treatment options.
PDL1 sp142 for triple negative breast cancer
Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is the most aggressive breast cancer subtype. Recent discoveries in TNBC have shown that the higher the expression of the surface molecule PD-L1 in the cancer cells, the better the response of patients to immunotherapy. Testing is available to clinicians in order to guide treatment options in immunotherapy.
How to access the our tests
If you are a Health Care Professional, please contact us on +44 (0)1223 395 450 / info@camclinlabs.co.uk. If you are a patient, please refer your Health Care Professional to our website and ask them to get in touch. Please note that Cambridge Clinical Laboratories HCP services are only available through a professional healthcare provider.
Useful resources
(Sources - Breast Cancer UK & Cancer Research UK)