Each year, 60,000 women learn that they have breast cancer, the leading cause of cancer mortality among French women with 12,000 deaths. While research is advancing, a new track gives birth to a huge hope: circulating biomarkers.
Circulating biomarkers, the new weapon of the Institut Curie
For decades, breast cancer has been a scourge that upsets thousands of lives. Faced with this vital issue, the Institut Curie, the first European center for the fight against breast cancers, engages in a scientific revolution.
“”As the 1st European Center for the Fight against Breast Cancers, we have a strong expertise but also a strong responsibility towards our patients to always improve their management, and to reduce mortality linked to breast cancers. Thanks to our expertise in cutting -edge techniques such as liquid biopsies, doctors are progressing with great strides in the diagnosis and monitoring of the disease, the adaptation of treatments and forecasting the risk of relapse “explains Professor Steven Le Gouill, director of the hospital ensemble of the Curie Institute.
These liquid biopsies consist in detecting the trace of cancer in the blood thanks to circulating biomarkers: tumor DNA, cells, extracellular vesicles or RNA. A simple method, less invasive than a classic biopsy, and which can be repeated without altering the quality of life of patients.
“”This major advance is the fruit of fundamental research work carried out for over 20 years, to which researchers from the Institut Curie have greatly contributed, in collaboration with their doctors’ colleagues. Our research teams are now committed to finding even more precise molecular clues and developing new techniques to improve their detection, using in particular artificial intelligence “underlines Dr. Claire Rougeulle, director of the Research Center of the Institut Curie.
Detect, follow, prevent: the concrete benefits of liquid biopsy for patients
These biomarkers open up new perspectives at all stages of the disease. They could supplement mammography in screening, refine the diagnosis and offer a more precise prognosis depending on the type and quantity of circulating equipment. During treatment, they make it possible to assess the effectiveness of real -time therapy (depending on the quantity of tumor DNA circulating for example) or the emergence of resistance to be taken care of quickly. After care, their detection can reveal a residual disease, heralding a risk of relapse.
“”The circulating biomarkers will now be at the heart of the strategy of management and monitoring of women’s cancers. This innovation complements the conventional tissue analyzes that we have so far providing a level of precision in the analysis of the prognosis and the risk of relapse never equaled to date. It is a real revolution in the design of treatment and care protocols of our patients, initiated at the Curie Institute and in the process of adopting the world “enthuses the pre Anne Vincent-Salomon, pathologist at the Institut Curie.
Ludivine’s intimate fight against breast cancer
Behind these scientific advances, there are upset lives, stories of courage. That of Ludivine Ernoult is an illustration of this. Diagnosed in 2021 of triple negative breast cancer at only 34 years old, this nurse and mother of two young children followed a classic course: chemotherapy, surgery, radiotherapy. In remission, she lived in fear of a relapse.
When it was offered in 2023 to integrate a clinical trial based on circulating tumor DNA, it accepts. A few months later, a blood test detected an invisible relapse to conventional exams. Thanks to this ultra-rececoce diagnosis, Ludivine could be treated immediately, avoiding a generalization of the disease.
“”I have an atypical course and 2 years ago, my life was saved thanks to research. I am the embodiment that research on circulating tumor DNA is beneficial for patients. Without them, I will not be there today “she testifies with emotion.
Clinical and research trials, the hope of a more precise medicine
To transform this promise into reality for all, the Curie Institute multiplies clinical trials.
“”To demonstrate that the identification of new biomarkers or the use of new analysis techniques can change the future of patients, the Curie Institute has launched many clinical trials. We were the first to develop the concept of interception of resistance to treatment thanks to circulating tumor DNA, which should allow the marketing of a new drug to counter resistance to hormone therapy, following the Serena-6 clinical trial “specifies Pr François-Clément Bidard. We had echoed this discovery: the Camizestrant could change the situation in the face of resistance to hormonal treatments, responsible for many relapses. Thanks to a simple blood test every two or three months, doctors can now intercept the disease before it progresses. These results lay the basis for a new therapeutic modelwhere we no longer wait for the clinical relapse to intervene. Thanks to Regular liquid biopsiesthe treatment can be adapted in real time to the molecular evolution of cancer.
Other projects are already emerging, such as Cupcake, which will be interested in the end of 2025 in patients with triple negative breast cancer. “”This very innovative test aims the early detection of recurrence in the molecular level to take care of it before the appearance of symptoms. This is a major issue for women concerned “explains Dr. Fatima Mechta-Grigoriou, Inserm research director.
This research, carried out on a large scale, could lastingly change the face of breast cancer: finer screening, treatments adjusted in real time, and especially saved lives, like that of Ludivine.