New discovery could better target breast cancer in younger women

Dr. Mallika Marshall, CBS News It’s a discovery that could change the way some women are treated for breast cancer. When school administrator Vanessa Silva was diagnosed with breast cancer at just 32 years old, she underwent a bilateral mastectomy followed by powerful chemotherapy. "I did not do well with it,” Silva said. “It just felt like I was hit by a truck.” Her treatment was aggressive because the disease is more aggressive in younger women than it is in older patients. And now researchers at Duke University know why after analyzing tumors from both age groups. "Tumors in young women had specific genetic components that made them more aggressive,” said Dr. Kimberly Blackwell from Duke University Medical Center. And scientists were shocked to find how common these genetic components were in younger women. “If breast... [read full story]