Breast Cancer Awareness FAQs

Do you know that Breast cancer is the most common form of cancer affecting women in Malaysia? We at XIXILI would like to support all ladies out there by raising awareness, educating on the importance of self-breast examinations and most importantly, seeking the appropriate help.

This month, we will be collaborating with BCWA and CRM to answer some frequently asked questions and to share with us more about the treatment of breast cancer

What are the advances in research when it comes to preventing breast cancer?

Unfortunately, although one in 3 cancers may be prevented through changes in lifestyle risk factors [stopping smoking, getting vaccinations, healthy diet and increased physical activity], these lifestyle changes don’t do much in preventing breast cancer.  We now know that having more children and breast feeding them for longer is important in reducing the risk of breast cancer, and being physically active is also very important (especially for women undergoing menopause).  Cancer Research Malaysia launched Malaysia’s first breast cancer prevention trial in 2018 to test whether drinking two glasses of soy milk a day can reduce the risk of cancer, and we hope to organise more cancer prevention trials.

Because of research, we now know that 1 in 20 breast cancer patients in Malaysia inherited a faulty gene from their mother and father, and we know that if we could provide this information to more women, we can prevent breast and other cancers in these families.  Knowing your genetic status can empower women to decide which screening and prevention is right for them. Find out more at http://www.embracingbrca.cancerresearch.my/cancers/breast-cancer.

What are some of the promising methods in treating breast cancer?

There have been many advances in treating breast cancers in the past 30 years, and survival has improved significantly. Fifty years ago, cancers were treated according to the organ in which they occurred because doctors and scientists thought that all the cancers in the same organ arise in the same way and therefore respond to the same treatment. We now know that this is not the case – for example, based on genetic and genomic studies, we learned that there are at least 10 different types of breast cancer, and treatments that work in one type of breast cancer do not work in other types.

To distinguish these different types of breast cancers, we use “biomarkers” – signals from the cancers that tell us what type of treatments to use. Significantly, because of the Malaysian Breast Cancer Genetic Study, we have developed 2 new biomarkers that could be used to choose treatments. The first is a gene that predicts the response to immunotherapy in patients with aggressive breast cancer, and the second is a biomarker that predicts the response to a new form of targeted therapy in patients with aggressive breast cancers.

We are now testing the accuracy of these biomarkers in predicting treatment response, and as part of the clinical trials, patients in Malaysia are receiving new treatments that they would not previously have had access to. If the trials show that the biomarker does indeed accurately predict response to treatment, then in the future, all patients with the aggressive breast cancers will be tested with these biomarkers and given treatments that can save their lives. This is the focus on precision medicine – to develop new ways of treating cancers based on the understanding of the precise type of cancers, and the studies we are doing are making an important contribution to precision oncology in Asians.

Does Cancer Research Malaysia provide any kind of subsidies or financial assistance for women to go through breast screening?

In our efforts to close the care gap between the rich and the poor, our Community Outreach team manages a Patient Navigation Programme (PNP), which works with the Ministry of Health to improve timeliness of diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer patients, focusing on low income patients. Currently, we have four Pink Ribbon Centres that offer PNP, located at Hospital Tengku Ampuan Rahimah Klang, Hospital Tuanku Ja'afar Seremban, Hospital Queen Elizabeth II Sabah and Hospital Umum Sarawak and screening for breast cancer is available in these centres. Learn more about our PNP at bit.ly/giveasiapnp

The website mentions that the team “aims to ensure that the advances in medical research include Asians in a number of ways”. Does nationality or race play a role in women developing breast cancer?

Short answer, yes! There are many factors, including lifestyle, breast density, and even the type of genes you carry, that can alter your risk of breast cancer. Previously Asian women had a lower risk of developing breast cancer than European women, and Malay women had a lower risk than Chinese women, but these are changing rapidly because of changes in lifestyle and reproductive factors [like the number of children that a woman has and how long she breastfeeds for.

Are Asians more susceptible in developing breast cancer?

No, breast cancer risk in women in Asia is significantly lower than that of women in Europe, because we generally have different diets and reproductive factors, for example, we are more likely to start bearing children at a younger age, have more children or breastfeed children for longer and these are all linked to a lower risk of breast cancer. This means screening and prevention recommendations may need to be tailored differently for Asian women. Learn more about Asians and breast cancer here: bit.ly/3thingsaboutAsianbrca 

Is immunotherapy actively used as a method to treat breast cancer in Malaysia?

Immunotherapy is a treatment method that empowers your body’s immune system to fight against cancer. Immunotherapy seems to work better for more lung and skin cancer patients, and fewer breast cancer patients.  Part of the problem is that there are many types of breast cancer and we need more accurate ways to working out which patients will benefit from immunotherapy. In Cancer Research Malaysia’s AUROR clinical trial, we are testing a new drug that removes the cancer cell’s ability to disguise and hide itself, enabling the immune system to detect and destroy the cancer cells.

AUROR is also the first clinical trial in Asia that uses a genetic marker more common in Asians. This is an important stepping stone to bring Asians closer to personalized medicine in cancer treatment, and could directly change lives by giving doctors an effective way of precisely choosing patients who benefit from immunotherapy. 

Learn more about our immunotherapy clinical trial for Asian breast cancer patients: bit.ly/crmyAUROR

We hope that we have answered some of your questions that you might have about breast cancer. Let's play our part together! It is vital that all ladies do their monthly self-breast examination monthly. Seek help early or see a doctor if you feel something is not right as you are the person that should know your body the best. Remember, early detection saves lives!