New cancer classification system shows promise as lifesaver

Interesting article. 

Here's a slightly different spin on the subject, as reported by the University of California, San Francisco Cancer Center:

UCSF related Genomic study

I wonder if this similar or completely different as oncodx testing for hormone positive breast cancer.

Meow, both the Oncotype test and this study are taking advantage of recent advances in genomic science (a very new area of science), but this study is looking at something quite different.  It's like saying that two studies are each investigating how lifestyle and environmental factors (i.e. factors over which we have some level of control, vs. genetic/biological factors) affect the development of breast cancer but one study is looking at the impact of multi-vitamin consumption and the other study is looking a particular enviromental toxin. Completely different.

There are a zillion different things that can be investigated with genomics, and there is no way to know which new findings will strike gold and which will turn out to be interesting but not useful.  This particular finding is very interesting but as one of the authors of the study said, "How we use that information for treatment is anybody's guess right now". The challenge is whether and how this can be translated into treatment options that improve survival.  That could take 5 years or it could take 20 years or it might never happen.  But you can bet that behind the scenes, there will be many scientists working on it.

But shouldn't we be stopping this sort of research and just focusing on immunotherapy?  

I'm being facetious, of course, but I think this study is a good example of all the work that is going on that we don't hear about or know anything about - some of which might lead to the big breakthrough.  We don't want the scientific community to focus in one area because that might lead to a dead end. We need the scientific community to be working in all these different areas.  Just because we don't hear about everything that's going on doesn't mean that nothing is going on.  And just because one particular prototype drug or type of treatment therapy (vaccines, immunotherapy) makes the press doesn't mean that it's the way of the future. When it comes to breast cancer treatment, or cancer treatment in general, the way of the future, the really big breakthrough, might be something that we haven't heard of yet and that is being worked on right now by a bunch of unknown scientists in the corner of a few labs around the world.