Kevin Kalinsky, MD, MS, on the Aim of the Phase 3 RxPONDER Trial in Breast Cancer Subtype

In a recent study, investigators aimed to evaluate the 21-gene Oncotype Dx Recurrence Score in nonmetastatic HR-positive, HER2-negative breast cancer to determine if women may be overtreated or undertreated.

They found that postmenopausal women with 1 to 3 positive nodes and recurrence score between 0 and 25 can likely forego adjuvant chemotherapy without compromising invasive disease-free survival, according to Kevin Kalinsky, MD, MS.

“[Our results have] huge implications for when we sit down with our patients, and we explain to them, ‘Well, listen, these are the benefits and these are the risks,’” he explained. “This study helps inform those discussions.”

Kalinsky, acting associate professor in the Department of Hematology and Medical Oncology at Emory University School of Medicine, director of the Glenn Family Breast Center, and director of breast medical oncology at Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University, spoke with CancerNetwork® about the aim of the phase 3 RxPONDER trial (NCT01272037).

Transcription:

This study was looking to answer the question of patients who had a recurrence for the Oncotype Dx 21-gene Recurrence Score and if that was 25 or less. We randomized patients to chemotherapy followed by undergoing therapy versus therapy alone…the primary aim was to see [if] those patients [had] a lower recurrence [risk] or if there was benefit from chemotherapy–a little bit different than those patients who are at the higher end of that recurrence score. While we didn’t see that, the reason we’re recording these data now is that we’re seeing a very different sort of benefit in patients who are premenopausal compared with post[menopausal].