Breast Cancer

A new pilot study demonstrates the ability of a blood-based test to detect metastatic breast cancer recurrence with high sensitivity and specificity.

It will be critically important to await the longer-term DFS and OS results from the neoadjuvant studies, as well as the adjuvant studies evaluating dual HER2 blockade, prior to these approaches truly becoming the standard of care.

Therapies targeting HER2 have revolutionized the treatment of breast cancer. Trastuzumab is the foundation of treatment for women with HER2-positive breast cancer. The challenge ahead is to develop predictors that can identify patients for whom trastuzumab alone will be sufficient.

This review discusses the treatment of primary, nonmetastatic HER2-positive breast cancer in the adjuvant and neoadjuvant settings-settings in which tremendous progress has been made.

Two early trials studying CDK inhibitors in metastatic breast cancer have shown impressive activity in HR-positive disease, according to data presented at the AACR annual meeting.

A phase I study of intermittent oral lapatinib in patients with HER2-amplified breast cancer escalated up to 7,000 mg per day (shown to be effective in mouse models), found that plasma concentrations of the drug did not increase proportionately with the oral dose, impeding clinical translation of this method.

After a 30-year follow-up, it was shown that women treated with fertility drugs did not have an increased risk of breast cancer compared with women not exposed to the treatments.

Older age and comorbidities were associated with a higher risk of failing to complete trastuzumab therapy in a new study of older women with early-stage breast cancer, where nearly 20% failed to complete the treatment.

New guidelines supporting the broader use of sentinel lymph node biopsy in women with early-stage breast cancer have been issued by ASCO.

Contrary to some expectations, getting accelerated approval for neoadjuvant therapy does not look easy, and the pertuzumab story may be the exception that proves the rule.

At this point, there is expectation that pertuzumab given in the neoadjuvant setting will improve long-term efficacy. We welcome the opportunity to include pertuzumab in the neoadjuvant regimen of patients with HER2-positive breast cancer.

This article discusses the development of pertuzumab to date, with a particular focus on the accelerated approval decision. We highlight the need to identify reliable biomarkers of sensitivity and resistance to HER2-targeted therapy, which would make possible the individualization of treatment for patients with HER2-positive breast cancer.

Besides easing fatigue, yoga also eases pain and depression for women with breast cancer undergoing radiation therapy, a new study finds.

Researchers have reported the results of the first large-scale, whole-genome study of advanced breast cancer. The analysis of the sequences has resulted in identification of a subset of patients who have a higher chance of benefiting from specific personalized therapy.

SSO and ASTRO have released a new set of consensus guidelines that could reduce healthcare costs and improve treatment for women with breast cancer.

A new study shows that in some cases, inhibiting the growth of primary tumors can promote the spread of tumor cells to other parts of the body.

Management recommendations for breast cancer local-regional recurrence (LRR), including patient scenarios, are reviewed, and represent evidence-based data and expert opinion of the American College of Radiology Appropriateness Criteria Expert Panel on LRR.

A new study found that smoking increases the risk of estrogen receptor (ER)-positive breast cancer for young women.

Scientists have discovered that the injection of an engineered virus into triple-negative breast cancer cells may allow the cancers to be treated with therapeutic radioiodine, a treatment traditionally used to treat thyroid cancers.

In this Circling Back feature, authors of the review article “Adjuvant Endocrine Therapy for Breast Cancer: How Long Is Long Enough?” discuss some of the especially interesting points made in the commentaries.

The introduction of survivorship care plans for cancer survivors may not be a cost-effective use of scarce health care resources, according to the results of a companion study of a randomized controlled trial.

A new study found that more than half of all patients experience pain 12 months after surgery and adjuvant therapy for breast cancer.

Updated recommendations issued by the USPSTF state that primary care physicians should screen women who have a family history of either breast, ovarian, tubal, or peritoneal cancers for BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutations.

Beneficial compounds in tomatoes may help lower the risk of breast cancer for postmenopausal women, according to a new study.

Final overall survival results of a trial comparing fulvestrant doses found that postmenopausal women with metastatic, ER–positive breast cancer had a 19% lower risk of death when taking a 500-mg dose compared with a 250-mg dose.

A study aimed at defining the natural history of breast implant-associated anaplastic large-cell lymphoma found that outcomes differ between those cases where the disease is confined within the fibrous capsule surrounding the implant and those where a mass is present in the breast.

The so-called “carryover” effect of tamoxifen results in the reduction in recurrence continuing well after treatment has stopped. The carryover effect is seen mostly in the first 5 years after treatment cessation, and recent evidence suggests that after that time, it is largely over.

In the future, we also need to improve our ability to personalize the duration of endocrine therapy, with a goal of optimizing patient selection for extended therapy. Hopefully, clinical-pathologic indices and predictive biomarkers similar to the Oncotype DX 12-gene recurrence score or the PAM50 risk of recurrence score for adjuvant chemotherapy will soon emerge to guide adjuvant endocrine therapy.

The strongest aspect of TCGA is that the data are publically available, fueling the input needed for unparalleled discovery. As the broader scientific community continues to analyze and integrate TCGA data with their own datasets, it is highly likely that breast cancer patients will benefit.

TCGA’s efforts to dissect the genomic complexity found in breast cancer patients represents only the beginning of a journey toward better understanding of the intricacy of the events that lead to this disease. Additional efforts are required to provide tailored and effective therapeutic interventions.