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Massimo Cristofanilli, MD

Articles by Massimo Cristofanilli, MD

16 Open-Label, Randomized, Multicenter, Phase 3, ELAINE 3 Study of the Efficacy and Safety of Lasofoxifene Plus Abemaciclib for Treating ER+/HER2–, Locally Advanced or Metastatic Breast Cancer With an ESR1 Mutation

This review will focus on properties of cancer stem cells; will compare and contrast the cancer stem cell model with the clonal evolution model of tumorigenesis; will discuss the role of cancer stem cells in the development of resistance to chemotherapy; and will review the therapeutic implications and challenges of targeting cancer stem cells, with an assessment of the potential such an approach holds for improving outcomes for patients with cancer.

Important therapeutic innovations within the past several years have resulted in only modest survival benefits for women with metastatic breast cancer. In this setting, cancer remains incurable and treatment is mainly palliative, involving judiciously applied multiple endocrine, chemotherapeutic, or biologic therapies in an attempt to induce a series of remissions and, ultimately, adequate palliation. At present, we lack both a consensus management algorithm and an ideal treatment model of specific subsets of women.

Inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) is a rare and aggressive form of the disease. It is diagnosed based on clinical signs of a rapidly enlarging, tender, erythematous, edematous breast that often presents without an underlying breast mass. IBC historically was considered a uniformly fatal disease. With the advent of multimodality treatments including primary systemic chemotherapy, surgery, and radiation therapy, approximately one-third of women diagnosed with IBC will become long-term survivors. This review examines the limitations of the current definition of IBC, explores our current understanding of the biology of IBC, and reviews the many exciting advances in locoregional and systemic treatment of IBC.

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