As per a recent study that appeared in the medical journal Clinical Cancer Research, a novice test has been discovered that would assist in predicting if chemotherapy would cast its effect within 24 hours of its application on breast cancer patients.

The innovation has been brought out by the Breakthrough Breast Cancer Research Centre at The Institute of Cancer Research (ICR), London, England. The test would relieve breast cancer patients of needless treatments and their adverse affects. Along with that, the test would also predict if PARP-inhibitors are effective for woman suffering from breast cancer.

The research was carried out on 68 patients having breast cancer and researchers analyzed RAD 51, one of the major proteins that helps in DNA repair. It was found out that in some of the patients, RAD51 didn’t perform in cancer cells and anthracycline chemotherapy was much more effective in such cases only.

Those cases with weak performance of RAD51 were given chemotherapy treatment and the result was noteworthy. Many of them got rid of the tumors in their breasts. The results would not be the same on patients with less response to DNA repair.

“This test may reduce the time taken to discover if a breast cancer patient is not going to have a good response to chemotherapy from three months to just 24 hours”, said Dr. Nicholas Turner, team leader at the Breakthrough Breast Cancer Research Centre.

He further added that the test is still in process and more trials are needed to confirm to its effectiveness. Also, if it gets developed successfully, it would assist others to come up with breast cancer medications and PARP inhibitors.