Breast Cancer

Common breast cancer risk alleles are correlated with both the incidence of breast cancer and mortality, and using these alleles along with other factors could identify women at very low risk of breast cancer who could potentially avoid mammography.

Response to the HER2-targeted therapies lapatinib and trastuzumab are correlated with pathway-level genetic alterations, but not specific gene mutations.

Venous thromboembolism is significantly more likely over the long term in breast cancer patients than in the general population, according to a study in Sweden.

Here we review current guidelines on breast and ovarian cancer screening, prophylactic surgery, and other risk-reduction strategies in patients with these mutations, and we detail the data that drive these recommendations.

This review summarizes the most up-to-date approach to the multidisciplinary management of patients with breast cancer brain metastases.

For some time, genetic testing has been predictive and prognostic. It is now assuming a therapeutic role as well. An example is the targeting of breast cancer patients with BRCA mutations for treatment with PARP inhibitors.

Brain metastasis remains a relatively common and particularly devastating complication of breast cancer and has proven a particularly challenging area for therapeutic innovation.

Adding ribociclib, a CDK4/6 inhibitor, to letrozole significantly improved progression-free survival in postmenopausal women with advanced, HR-positive/HER2-negative breast cancer.

Breast cancer tumors that are HER2-negative can spontaneously flip, with populations of circulating HER2-positive cells, suggesting treatment strategy.

Circulating breast tumor cells from patients can convert from HER2-negative to HER2-positive according to a study published in Nature.

This review will summarize the current trends in the diagnosis and management of DCIS and will highlight ongoing trials that are shaping future management of this entity.

Despite the much higher risk of local recurrence with lumpectomy and radiation compared with mastectomy, multiple retrospective studies and prospective randomized trials have established that survival is the same; however, this may not be so for the individual patient, depending on the type of recurrence.

In this interview we review recent breast cancer screening guidelines from the ACS and USPSTF, and discuss the changing way that early-stage breast and prostate cancers are being treated.

The presence of DCIS adjacent to invasive breast tumor and a younger age at diagnosis are associated with increased risk of ipsilateral breast tumor recurrence.

The use of telephone counseling for hereditary breast and ovarian cancer was noninferior to in-person counseling with no significant adverse effects on long-term outcomes.

In this interview we discuss new consensus guidelines from ASCO, SSO, and ASTRO that establish 2 mm surgical margins for treating DCIS patients.

Pooling data from four large studies of African American women, researchers found that vigorous exercise for 2 hours or more per week could reduce the risk of ER-positive breast cancer.

Using updated FISH guidelines yields more women with breast cancer who may be eligible for HER2-directed therapy.

A new study has found that negative expectations increase both the severity and number of side effects experienced by breast cancer patients undergoing hormone therapy.

Using a 70-gene signature test could identify many women with early-stage breast cancer considered to be at high clinical risk who do not actually need chemotherapy.

Breast density and breast cancer risk can help guide mammography screening recommendations for women older than age 50 years.

­Three medical organizations including ASCO have issued a guideline on margins in breast conserving surgery for patients with ductal carcinoma in situ.

Bone metastases are common in advanced breast cancer, and may be associated with serious morbidity, including fractures, pain, nerve compression, and hypercalcemia. Through optimum multidisciplinary management and the use of bone-targeted treatments, patients with advanced breast cancer have experienced a major reduction in skeletal complications, less bone pain, and an improved quality of life.

It is quite obvious that bone morbidity has a negative impact on our patients with breast cancer. The use of bone-modifying agents in this setting can yield significant quality-of-life benefits.

Women with ER-positive metastatic breast cancer previously treated with an aromatase inhibitor have worse survival outcomes if their tumor harbors one of two estrogen receptor mutations.

The FDA has granted Breakthrough Therapy Designation to Novartis for ribociclib (LEE011), in combination with letrozole (Femara), for treating hormone receptor-positive, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-negative (HR+/HER2-) advanced or metastatic breast cancer.

Epstein-Barr Virus might increase the risk of breast cancer, according to experiments with cell lines and mouse xenografts that identified a potential mechanism for the suspected link.

Researchers found that expression of the vitamin D receptor protein may help protect against aggressive forms of breast cancer.

A recent study found that radiologists differ in their interpretation of whether a woman has dense breasts based on mammography.

Results from a long-term study indicated that undergoing fertility treatment with in vitro fertilization did not increase women’s risk for breast cancer compared with women in the general population.