Overview

• Researchers from the University of Cambridge analysed 2,445 tumours from 2,403 patients across 13 NHS Genomic Medicine Centres, publishing the results in The Lancet Oncology.
• About 27% of cases showed actionable genomic features, equating to more than 15,000 women a year in the UK who could receive personalised treatment or trial options.
• Actionable findings included homology‑directed repair deficiency in roughly 12% of tumours, signs of hormone‑therapy resistance, and unique targetable mutations.
• Comprehensive genomic readouts could expand and speed clinical‑trial recruitment by matching patients to multiple studies in parallel rather than single‑target trials.
• Genomic markers outperformed traditional measures for prognosis in common ER+HER2‑ cancers, informing a framework that suggests around 7,500 women with low‑grade disease may need treatment escalation while broader rollout still requires validation and interpretation capacity.