Breast Cancer

Twenty-five–year results of a Swedish study found that 2 years of adjuvant tamoxifen provides a long-term survival benefit in premenopausal women with estrogen receptor–positive breast cancer.

There is significant interest in investigating immunotherapeutic strategies to be used for the treatment of breast cancer patients. One form of immunotherapy under active investigation is the cancer vaccine. Vaccines are a form of active immune therapy designed to stimulate the immune system to recognize tumor cells as foreign.

Perhaps we can now hope that primary immunoprevention of cancers that are engaged as people age may receive the attention, support, and legitimacy that will soon result in similar breakthrough stature.

It may be possible to remove deleterious germline BRCA1 mutations through alternative mRNA splicing and prevent drug resistance in some breast and ovarian cancer patients.

The KEYNOTE-012 trial shows that pembrolizumab has activity and acceptable toxicity as single-agent therapy in advanced triple-negative breast cancer.

Cognitive behavioral therapy may reduce long-term memory-related issues linked to chemotherapy treatment in cancer survivors.

Researchers at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center recently published a study in the journal Science Translational Medicine that a targeted therapy for TNBC has been discovered, which may be significant since TNBC is the only type of breast cancer for which there are no approved targeted therapies.

In this interview we discuss results of the PlanB trial, which showed that use of the 21-gene recurrence score, Oncotype DX, can identify patients with early breast cancer who likely do not need chemotherapy.

Results of the I-SPY 2 TRIAL found that the neoadjuvant combination of T-DM1 plus pertuzumab resulted in a greater benefit to HER2-positive breast cancer patients compared with paclitaxel plus trastuzumab.

A new study found that half of women age 40 to 44 evaluated at an academic practice qualified for annual mammography screening for breast cancer.

More than half of women undertreated for their ductal carcinoma in situ may develop a recurrence of the disease or invasive breast cancer within 10 years, according to a study presented at the 2016 American Society of Breast Surgeons Annual Meeting.

A 45-year-old woman is found to have a nodule in the breast. After further evaluation, a biopsy is performed. What is your diagnosis?

Combining trastuzumab emtansine with docetaxel both with and without pertuzumab yielded promising efficacy in a phase Ib/IIa study of patients with HER2-positive locally advanced or metastatic breast cancer.

A new analysis of the TEXT and SOFT trials examines the absolute effect of exemestane plus ovarian suppression vs tamoxifen across patients with different recurrence risks.

Resistance in estrogen receptor (ER)-positive breast cancer occurs in several ways, but preclinical studies suggest that changing the combinations of existing therapies may stave off resistance.

Researchers have found a link between the duration of fasting at night and the risk for breast cancer recurrence among women with early-stage breast cancer.

An ASCO expert panel has endorsed a Cancer Care Ontario guideline on the role of patient and disease factors in the selection of adjuvant therapy for women with early-stage breast cancer.

In a new discovery, research shows that certain stem cells, which should make healthy breast tissue, can also have mutations that prompt them to instead make breast cancer cells.

A new study found substantial diagnostic variability from pathologists when analyzing a single breast biopsy slide. DCIS and benign lesions with atypia tended to be “overinterpreted,” meaning the risk of the disease was overestimated.

Ultrasound proved better than tomosynthesis at finding breast cancer in women with dense breasts where mammography had not detected any cancer.

A 55-year-old perimenopausal woman presented with a palpable lump in her left breast. Diagnostic mammogram showed a 1.8-cm spiculated mass with scattered microcalcifications within the mass. Comparison with her most recent prior mammogram (about 9 months earlier) showed this to be a new mass.

This landscape of endocrine therapy for metastatic breast cancer is changing rapidly. The recent report that palbociclib improved median PFS when combined with fulvestrant in patients with progression despite prior endocrine therapy is compelling.

In this interview we discuss research into cancer vaccines and checkpoint inhibitors for the treatment of breast cancer.

Two leading breast cancer experts debated the proposition that platinum-based or other additional systemic agents should be used in difficult-to-treat cases of high-risk triple-negative breast cancer.

Clear guidelines about the utilization of MRI in breast cancer detection and management are needed, as the modality is being overused in women for whom it offers few benefits (and potential harms), and underused when it might be appropriate.