Clinical Pearls for the Treatment of Breast Cancer

Opinion
Video

Sara M. Tolaney, MD, MPH, concludes the program with advice for community oncologists who are treating patients with breast cancer.

This is a synopsis of an OncView series featuring Sara M. Tolaney, MD, MPH, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

Sara M. Tolaney, MD, MPH, Chief of Breast Oncology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, remarked on the rapidly evolving breast cancer landscape, making it challenging for practitioners to keep current amid press releases of new data every few weeks. She advised utilizing biomarkers to guide selection of emerging targeted therapies and sequence options.

For example, in metastatic estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer, HER2 status alone is inadequate. One must also determine HER2-low status, PIK3CA mutations, high tumor mutational burden, ESR1 mutations, etc. to match appropriate CDK4/6 inhibitors, PI3K inhibitors like alpelisib, everolimus, elacestrant, PARP inhibitors if germline BRCA mutant, and additional investigational agents. With manifold pathways to target as new data emerge, organizing by an individual patient’s molecular profile is key to optimizing therapy while minimizing unnecessary toxicity.

Dr. Tolaney thanked participants for joining to discuss recent advances spanning hormone receptor-positive, HER2-positive, and triple negative disease. She hoped the overview of new therapeutic directions and increasing emphasis on personalized therapy guided by genomic analyses will inform clinical practice. Keeping pace with the accelerating science remains challenging but using biomarkers to select tailored options offers the best opportunity to improve patient outcomes going forward.

*Video synopsis is AI-generated and reviewed by Cancer Network editorial staff.

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