Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women. Although advances in diagnosis and treatment have improved the prognosis for many patients, preventing the cancer from spreading remains one of the major challenges in cancer research.

Among the strategies to prevent metastasis are bisphosphonates, a class of drugs which, as well as treating bone loss, can help prevent the cancer from spreading to the bones in certain groups of patients. However, their benefits are not the same for all women, so it’s crucial to identify who might be able to benefit from this treatment.

With this aim in mind, the team led by Roger Gomis at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona) identified the role played by the MAF gene in the progression of breast cancer. This discovery led to the development, in collaboration with the company Inbiomotion, of the MAF Test®, used to analyse tumours and detect any alterations in this gene, thereby helping to identify which patients may benefit from treatment with bisphosphonates.

In the latest News from the “Lab”, Roger Gomis explains how this tool works and what it means for progress towards increasingly personalised medicine. 

One important step along this path is the fact that the MAF Test® has been included in the SEOM-GEICAM-SOLTI clinical practice guidelines for early-stage breast cancer, recognising the years of research that lie behind the test and paving the way for its results to help guide treatment decisions.

The aim is to move towards more precise treatments, tailored to the particular characteristics of each tumour, in order to avoid interventions that offer no benefit and to improve clinical outcomes.