By Sean D. Hamill / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
A team of Pittsburgh researchers has discovered a genetic mutation that aided the spread of breast cancer in a patient, an exciting discovery that may provide guidance for how to treat women with the disease in the future, according to a study announced today at a breast cancer symposium in San Antonio.

The team of researchers from the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute and the Magee-Womens Research Institute used tumor tissue samples collected at UPMC hospitals over the last two decades that allowed researchers to track the spread of the disease in six patients.

All six patients had surgery to remove the initial tumor, and were determined to be disease free, only to have the cancer recur and ultimately kill them. Recurrence of breast cancer after surgery occurs in about 30 percent of patients.