SOUTHAMPTON researchers believe that more trials need to be done on younger women in order to improve breast cancer survival rates.

A study jointly funded by The Wessex Cancer Trust and Cancer Research UK found young women are less likely to survive the disease after ten years than those over 40.

It also discovered that a lack of clinical trials aimed specifically at younger breast cancer patients could be partly to blame for their poorer survival rates.

The study by Southampton University researchers analysed survival rates for almost 3,000 women diagnosed with breast cancer under the age of 40 whose cancers are fuelled by the female hormone oestrogen.

It found that women under 40 who are diagnosed with cancer and take a drug known as tamoxifen for five years after chemotherapy are at less risk of relapse.

It was in contrast to observations from other studies in older women who do not show the same steep relapse rate after five years.

But the study also highlights the need for young breast cancer patients to be targeted to take part in treatment trials to explore different treatment approaches.

The findings have been published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

Chief investigator Dianna Eccles, head of Cancer Research UK’s Southampton Clinical Trials Unit and Professor of Cancer Genetics at the University of Southampton, said: “This study adds to the evidence that breast cancer can behave very differently when diagnosed in younger women.

“They may require a different approach to treatment – which isn’t necessarily understood from cancer trials in older patients.

“Research is the key to improving survival for these women and we urgently need trials to help us develop new treatments tailored specifically at this age group.”