More genes, less chemo.

ASCO currently doesn’t endorse the use of a multigene assay for women with node positive ER(+) breast cancer, despite developing Oncotype data. Last month’s JCO report adds to the evidence with outcomes from a large Danish cohort tested with the PAM50 multigene assay. Patients with a low PAM50 score, regardless of nodal status, had only a 4% risk of distant recurrence with endocrine therapy alone. This is important because over one-third of patients with one node involved and 15% of those with two nodes involved had a low score, which could equate to a lot less needed chemo.