Breast Cancer

LONDON--Interim analyses of two randomized European trials of tamoxifen (Nolvadex) prophylaxis in healthy women have failed to show a significant reduction in the incidence of breast cancer, in contrast to the US Breast Cancer Prevention Trial (BCPT), which showed a 45% reduction with tamoxifen.

DALLAS--The Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation has announced the recipients of its 1998 postdoctoral fellowship grants, which total more than $1 million. In addition to these 10 new first-year grant recipients, the Komen Foundation currently funds 21 previously awarded fellowships throughout the United States.

LOS ANGELES--Avon’s Breast Cancer 3-Day is a new type of fundraising event--the first-ever multiday long distance walk. On October 23, 24, and 25, 1998, nearly 2,000 people in California will walk 50 to 60 miles (15 to 25 miles a day), beginning just south of Santa Barbara and ending just north of Malibu. Each participant has pledged to raise a minimum of $1,700 to support breast cancer awareness and education.

Researchers from the Pittsburgh-based National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project (NSABP) presented data on the Breast Cancer Prevention Trial (BCPT) during a plenary session of the recent American Society of Clinical Oncology

ATLANTA--The American Cancer Society is offering a "magalog," part magazine, part catalog, for women recovering from breast cancer and other cancers that involve treatment-related hair loss. Known as tlc (tender loving care), the nonprofit publication was created by Lana Leavitt Rosenfeld, an ACS volunteer.

PHILADELPHIA--The NCCN (National Comprehensive Cancer Network) has received a $1 million unrestricted grant from Genentech, Inc. The grant, provided over a 2-year period, will be used to support the development and expansion of the NCCN Oncology Outcomes Database with emphasis on breast cancer and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

LOS ANGELES--For patients with refractory metastatic breast cancer, ideal therapy would offer palliation with ease of administration and limited side effects. The new agent capecitabine (Xeloda) can be taken orally at home, making it unique among currently available salvage regimens for metastatic breast cancer, Joanne L. Blum, MD, PhD, of Texas Oncology, Dallas, said at the 34th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO).

Predisposition testing (ie, genetic testing that provides information about a person’s susceptibility to disease) is now available for several inherited forms of cancer. Individuals who are found to have an altered gene (eg, a

WASHINGTON--The FDA’s On-cology Drugs Advisory Committee (ODAC) has recommended full approval of Rhône-Poulenc Rorer’s Taxotere (docetaxel) and a widening of the advanced breast cancer indication that received conditional approval in 1996, subject to completion of phase III trials.

University of California, San Francisco, researchers have received approval from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to develop a less toxic breast cancer therapy that may also prove to be more efficient at directly targeting cancer cells.

Predisposition testing (ie, genetic testing that provides information about a person’s susceptibility to disease) is now available for several inherited forms of cancer. Individuals who are found to have an altered gene (eg, a

MILAN, Italy--Concern about the cardiotoxicity reported in early studies of AT--doxorubicin (Adriamycin)/paclitaxel (Taxol)--in advanced breast cancer was somewhat eased by a retrospective analysis of all previous AT studies.

LOS ANGELES--A monoclonal antibody directed at the HER2 receptor greatly enhances the effect of chemotherapy for women whose breast cancer overexpresses the HER2 gene. This encouraging finding comes as experts are beginning to suspect that increasing dose intensity of conventional chemotherapy may have "gone about as far as it can go," said Dennis Slamon, MD, PhD, chief, Division of Hematology-Oncology, UCLA School of Medicine.

EDMONTON, Alberta--Final results of a multicenter phase III trial show that docetaxel (Taxotere) improves survival more than mitomycin (Mutamycin)/vinblastine (MV) in anthracycline-resistant advanced breast cancer.

Women who adhere to a low-fat diet with plenty of vegetables and fruits may decrease their risk of developing breast cancer, according to a new study published in the May 1998 issue of The Journal of the American Dietetic Association. The study

CHICAGO--A monoclonal antibody expected to be approved by the FDA before year’s end is as potent as taxane therapy in certain virulent refractory breast cancers, according to research presented at an integrated symposium at the 34th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

SAN FRANCISCO--Raloxifene (Evista), an estrogen-receptor modulator used to treat osteoporosis, also has a protective effect against breast cancer, according to a 2-year randomized study and an overview analysis reported at ASCO. These findings require some caution in interpretation, since they were mainly observed in women with osteoporosis, a population that has a lower breast cancer risk than the general population.

Mammotome biopsy causes significantly less internal breast scarring than open surgical biopsy and is less likely to interfere with a radiologist’s ability to read subsequent mammograms, according to a new study presented at the third annual

NEW YORK--Avon’s Breast Cancer Awareness Crusade is combining health and beauty with the introduction of its newest fundraising product, the Avon Pink Ribbon Cosmetics Case.

SAN FRANCISCO--Interim results of a major intergroup study of paclitaxel (Taxol) as adjuvant treatment of node-positive breast cancer "will change the standard of care for node-positive breast cancer patients," I. Craig Henderson, MD, of the University of California, San Francisco, said at ASCO.

NEW YORK--There is a soap opera scenario surrounding breast cancer survivors that goes something like this: "Breast cancer ruins the woman’s life. Her husband leaves her for another woman. She loses her job. She considers suicide but bravely goes on, knowing no man will ever want her. Looking in the mirror is her worst nightmare."

ORLANDO--Preoperative chemotherapy in breast cancer patients can leave a surgeon in the dark as to the specific amount of normal tissue to remove if the chemotherapy eliminates the tumor or renders it no longer palpable. A simple tattoo outlining the original tumor site can be a great aid in helping surgeons determine the type of surgery to be performed after the therapy.

LOS ANGELES--Taxane therapy lengthens survival in breast cancer patients, both in the metastatic and adjuvant settings, according to the results of two phase III trials presented at the 34th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO).

ASCO--Fewer than half of women with early-stage breast cancer are treated with breast-conserving lumpectomy, even though up to 75% are eligible. Almost one-quarter of those who have lumpectomy are not given radiotherapy to improve local control.

BUFFALO, NY--Studies have shown that only 15% to 20% of patients with metastatic breast cancer have a long-term disease-free survival following administration of high-dose chemotherapy with autologous bone marrow or stem cell support. "We have therefore decided to explore immunotherapy for this patient population," said Meir Wetzler, MD, of the Division of Medicine, Roswell Park Cancer Institute.

BALTIMORE--Adjuvant chemotherapy regimens for breast cancer are often reduced for patients over age 65 due to concerns about toxicity. These reductions may not be necessary in most cases. Elizabeth Claire Dees, MD, and her colleagues at the Johns Hopkins Oncology Center found that although older women had more neutropenia, this seldom resulted in clinical complications.

SAN ANTONIO--The first results of a large Intergroup study show that adjuvant chemotherapy with CAF is superior to CMF in high-risk node-negative patients, Laura Hutchins, MD, of the University of Arkansas, reported at the ASCO plenary session for SWOG. The study also suggests that S phase fraction can be used to stratify patients into risk groups.

AVIANO, Italy--Elderly women with node-positive breast cancer are more vulnerable to chemotherapy-related toxicity. Physicians should be prepared to help older patients prevent or manage these problems and should not be too quick to reduce scheduled dosages, Diana Crivellari, MD, said at her ASCO poster presentation for the International Breast Cancer Study Group (IBCSG) Trial VII.

PITTSBURGH--Five years of prophylactic tamoxifen (Nolvadex) cut the risk of breast cancer almost in half in women at high risk for the disease. D. Lawrence Wickerham, MD, associate chairman of the National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project (NSABP), gave the first formal presentation of the results of the Breast Cancer Prevention Trial (BCPT) at the ASCO plenary session.

The article by Manjeet Chadha and Deborah Axelrod on routine axillary dissection in invasive breast cancer (11: 1463-1468, 1997) is a well-presented discussion of a timely subject. The authors make a good case that nodal disease (pN+) is no