Reducing anxiety and providing reassurance for patients

The team at Penn is currently enrolling patients in two ongoing, large-scale studies that could help support their findings. Trial sites are located across the country, including at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.

The ultimate goal, Chodosh said, is to not only identify and treat those who are at a higher risk of recurrence, but to be able to offer reassurance to survivors who don’t have dormant cells.

“The goal would be to get a test that’s so good that, if you’re negative with this test, you could confidently say your risk of recurring is extremely low over the course of your lifetime,” he said. “That would have such a big benefit.”

Researchers are also following breast cancer survivors who don’t ever test positive for dormant cancer cells in order to compare their long-term survival outcomes to those who get treated for sleeper cells.

Some clinicians and experts were worried about whether participation in these kinds of trials would cause more distress in survivors, DiMichele said. But her team studied that, too, and found it to be the opposite.

“Regardless of the answer, whether the patient found out they were positive or negative, overall their anxiety went down,” she said. “And we think it’s because, and what patients tell us is, ‘Look, at least I’m doing something.’ It was the not doing something, not knowing, that was so anxiety-provoking.”

Over the years, LaScala has become more involved in research efforts and now serves as a patient advocate on research boards at Penn, where she can help shape studies and participant guidelines.

Among breast cancer survivors, she said there has always been passion and an eagerness for advancing testing and treatment options for everyone — survivors, people actively battling disease and those who may one day get a diagnosis.

“It’s so energizing,” LaScala said. “To be around the research and to be able to participate … it’s incredible.”