Breast Cancer

WASHINGTON-The success of the US Army’s Breast Cancer Research Program (BRCP) stems from the intersection of research and advocacy, said participants in a press conference at the Department of Defense’s Era of Hope conference. More than 550 investigators who received awards from the BRCP from 1992 to 1995 were invited to present their research at the meeting. “My greatest joy and passion in this work is the partnerships among the medical community, the Department of Defense, and breast cancer survivors,” said Col. Irene Rich, DNSc, director of the U.S. Army’s Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program.

BETHESDA, Md-The possible link between the pesticide DDT and breast cancer or benign breast disease will be explored among women in the northern Alabama community of Triana. The study by researchers from the National Cancer Institute and the University of Alabama in Huntsville College of Nursing will begin Feb. 15, with results available in 1999.

Breast cancer patients age 65 years and older who were enrolled in one of two large western not-for-profit health maintenance organizations (HMOs) experienced long-term survival equal to or better than counterparts living in the same geographic areas who received breast cancer care under the traditional fee-for-service (FFS) system. The HMO members were also more likely than the FFS patients to receive breast-conserving surgery and to have adjuvant radiation therapy recommended for early-stage breast cancer. The study by Arnold L. Potosky, phD, National Cancer Institute, and colleagues was reported in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

Washington-Could a walk in the sun reduce breast cancer risk? Two reports at the Department of Defense Breast Cancer Research Program “Era of Hope” meeting add support to hypotheses on the protective role of vitamin D.

SAN ANTONIO-A weekly outpatient paclitaxel (Taxol) regimen led to rapid responses in more than 40% of a group of heavily pretreated women with metastatic breast cancer, said Dr. Hans-Joachim Luck, of the Medical University of Hannover, Germany. [See page 30 for a commentary on single-agent taxanes in this setting.]

SAN ANTONIO-Docetaxel (Tax-otere) has produced higher response rates than doxorubicin in a large European clinical trial in women with advanced breast cancer, marking the first time doxorubicin has been outperformed by any other single chemotherapeutic agent, John Crown, MD, reported for the International 303 Study Group, at a general session of the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium. [See page 30 for a commentary on single-agent taxanes in this setting.]

BETHESDA, Md-The Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee (ODAC), citing problems with the study data presented to it, voted not to recommend to the FDA that it approve Neomark (broxuridine for injection, NeoPharm) “for use as a cell proliferation marker to determine the Labeling Index in breast cancer.”

SAN ANTONIO-Toremifene (Fareston), a recently approved anties-trogen, appears to have similar effects to those of tamoxifen (Nolvadex) on bone mineral density and potentially greater beneficial effects on serum lipoproteins in postmenopausal women with breast cancer, Tiina Saarto, MD, said at her poster presentation at the 20th Annual San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.

WASHINGTON-Use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) may reduce risk of colon cancer, but apparently has little or no impact on breast cancer risk, said Patricia F. Coogan, ScD, of the Slone Epidemiology Unit, Boston University School of Medicine, Brookline, Mass.

Researchers from the National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project (NSABP) announced the results of a large-scale trial designed to determine a more effective treatment for women with breast cancer. Results from this study, published

SAN ANTONIO-With several tamoxifen (Nolvadex) chemoprevention trials now complete or nearing completion, “over the next 2 to 3 years, we will be able to see whether tamoxifen or other analogs will prevent breast cancer,” said Trevor J. Powles at the 20th Annual San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium. He expressed confidence that these trials will prove that tamoxifen can prevent “a substantial amount of breast cancer in some populations of women.”

In 1997, breast cancer will be diagnosed in an estimated 180,200 women, and 43,900 women will die from the disease. Early detection combined with timely and appropriate treatment can alter the progress of and reduce mortality from this

SAN ANTONIO-The pivotal multinational phase III trials of the aromatase inhibitor letrozole (Femara) showed it to be clinically superior to both megestrol acetate and aminoglutethimide in the treatment of advanced breast cancer that relapses during or after therapy with tamoxifen (Nolvadex), said Ian Smith, MD, of the Royal Marsden Hospital, Sutton, UK.

The widespread impression that breast implants increase the risk of developing breast cancer has little supportive evidence, according to a recent report in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Authors Louise A. Brinton and S. Lori Brown

PHILADELPHIA-The American Cancer Society was on the right track in their March 1997 recommendation that women in their 40s have screening mammograms for detection of breast cancer, Thomas Jefferson University’s Stephen Feig, MD, said at a breast cancer symposium at Fox Chase Cancer Center. At the same time, he took to task the NIH consensus panel, which looked at the same data and did not recommend mam-mography screening for this age group.

SAN ANTONIO-A phase II trial conducted by the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) of doxorubicin plus paclitaxel (Taxol) with G-CSF (filgrastim, Neupogen) in metastatic breast cancer produced an overall response rate of approximately 50%, with a median response duration of about 4 months, said Joseph A. Sparano, MD, of Albert Einstein Cancer Center, New York City, at the 20th Annual San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium. However, complete responses were uncommon.

SAN ANTONIO-A taxane-containing combination therapy has led to major objective responses in 75% to 80% of patients with metastatic breast cancer. Overall, 35 of 48 evaluable patients responded to the combination of docetaxel (Taxotere), doxorubicin, and cyclophosphamide, said Jean-Marc Nabholtz, MD, senior medical oncologist at the University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada.

CHICAGO-Of the three primary methods of preventing breast cancer that are being debated today, only one-lifestyle education-is suitable at present for the general population of women.

Speakers at this international workshop, which was held in Lisbon, Portugal, on June 28, 1997, addressed the integration of new treatment strategies, including paclitaxel (Taxol), into the management of women with breast cancer.

NEW YORK-The National Alliance of Breast Cancer Organizations (NABCO) has introduced the NABCO Resource Card, a quick reference guide to services and programs offered by the top breast cancer organizations in the United States.

HOUSTON-Various combinations of a taxane and doxorubicin (Adriamycin) have been studied in patients with advanced breast cancer, with good response rates.

PHILADELPHIA-Simply giving ever higher doses of chemotherapy does not generally lead to improved survival in metastatic breast cancer. “For 20 years we’ve been exploring this approach, and the response has been uniform and uniformly disappointing,” Larry Norton, MD, of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, said at a symposium held at the Fox Chase Cancer Center.

In a lecture at Fox Chase Cancer Center, noted breast cancer researcher Bernard Fisher proclaimed his triumph against agencies that had accused him of scientific misconduct in his directorship of the National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel

This study evaluated the safety and feasibility of the combination of paclitaxel (Taxol) and epirubicin, the 4¢-epimer of doxorubicin, in women with metastatic breast cancer. A total of 85 patients with histologically proven

Although combination chemotherapy regimens may prolong survival for selected patients with metastatic breast cancer, few, if any, are cured. The standard regimens used in treatment, eg, CMF (cyclophosphamide,