Breast Cancer

Current evidence does not support the routine use of breast MRI in women with newly diagnosed breast cancer, according to Monica Morrow, MD, chief of the breast service, department of surgery, at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.

Researchers suggest routine screening of breast cancer patients for disruptions.

Newly published data in the August 20, 2009, issue of The New England Journal of Medicine affirm 5-year upfront use of letrozole (Femara) following surgery as an optimal treatment approach vs tamoxifen for postmenopausal women with early-stage breast cancer (hormone-receptor positive).

Black women who are diagnosed with breast cancer have a higher probability of dying from the disease than white women, regardless of their estrogen receptor status, according to research from the National Cancer Institute (NCI).

E-Updates in the Adjuvant Treatment of Breast Cancer, Volume 2Updates on Chemotherapeutic Options and Targeted Therapies

They are supposed to be the standard bearers of the body’s defense against disease. But when it comes to cancer, some macrophages are traitors, helping rather than fighting the enemy. They attach to metastatic tumor cells, as they do to other threats. But rather than destroying metastatic cells, these macrophages enable their growth.

WASHINGTON, DC-Two separate new drug applications, for the treatment of relapsed ovarian cancer and advanced breast cancer, failed to win the approval of FDA’s Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee.

In a follow-up study, Christopher I. Li, MD, PhD, and colleagues have reconfirmed their finding that migraine headaches are associated with a lower risk of breast cancer.

For every 1000 women aged 40 to 74 years who participated in screening, 3.9 diagnosed with breast cancer died compared with 5.0 among those who did not participate. The absolute benefit in terms of reduced deaths due to mammography screening, therefore, is about one in 1000.

This feature examines the case of a patient with newly diagnosed breast cancer in the setting of a first-trimester pregnancy presenting to our multidisciplinary breast cancer clinic.

Research by the International Breast Cancer Study Group furthers knowledge on how anti-estrogen agents affect cognitive function and memory.

ORLANDO-RIBBON-1 results demonstrate that bevacizumab (Avastin) can be added to nearly any standard chemotherapy regimen for metastatic breast cancer, although the jury is still out on how meaningful the additional treatment is for overall survival.

Washington, DC-The idea of universal healthcare coverage was a crowd pleaser at the 2009 Annual Advocacy Training Conference of the National Breast Cancer Coalition, but expert panelists agreed that making that dream into a reality will take time and perseverance.

Two proteins could become important prognostic markers for long-term survival in breast cancer patients, according to researchers at Seattle’s Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.

After it was reported that 25 labs in Quebec incorrectly identified markers for hormone therapy in 15% to 20% of breast cancer patients, the Canadian Breast Cancer Network called for urgent action to implement systemic changes in national standards for breast cancer testing.

Cell surface coating may play a major role in the spread of breast cancer to the brain, according to a study out of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York. Three genes-COX2, HB-EGF, and ST6GALNAC5-have been found to mediate the metastasis of breast cancer to the brain, reported lead author Joan Massagué, PhD, and colleagues (Nature online, May 6, 2009)

Merck KGaA of Darmstadt, Germany, has initiated a global phase III trial of BLP25 liposome vaccine (L-BLP25, Stimuvax) in patients with hormone receptor–positive, locally advanced, recurrent or metastatic breast cancer.

Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer among women in the United States.[1] Since the early 1990s, breast cancer mortality has steadily declined,[2] and statistical modeling using a Bayesian approach attributes these declining mortality rates to both earlier diagnosis and more effective treatments.[3]

As breast cancer remains the most commonly diagnosed cancer among women in the United States, there has been a decline in breast cancer–related mortality for the past 2 decades; this is likely related to diagnosis at an earlier stage and the availability of more effective treatment regimens.

Authors Winkfield and Harris kindly submit to the reader an article that reemphasizes the link between local control (LC) and overall survival (OS).

Researchers at Chicago’s Northwestern University reported that Abraxane (nab-paclitaxel) nearly doubled progression-free survival compared with Taxotere (docetaxel) when used as first-line treatment in patients with metastatic breast cancer. William Gradishar, MD, led the phase II, open-label, randomized clinical study of 300 patients with previously untreated metastatic, stage IV breast cancer.

TORONTO-Studies out of the University of California, San Diego, have demonstrated that the SAVI radiation device offers coverage of the breast cancer tumor bed while sparing normal tissue from radiation.

Negative perceptions and tough economic times keep women away from screening programs, but self-examination still highly rated.

The detection of cytokeratin 19-positive/HER2-positive circulating tumor cells in early breast cancer patients both before and after adjuvant chemotherapy predicts extremely poor outcomes, according to European investigators.

Carlos L. Arteaga, MD, will be presented with the Gianni Bonadonna Breast Cancer Award at the 2009 ASCO Breast Cancer Symposium in San Francisco. Dr. Arteaga, who is a professor of medicine and cancer biology at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine and director of the breast cancer research program of the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center in Nashville, will deliver the Bonadonna lecture at the symposium.

An MRI study of risk factors for breast cancer in young women, including teenagers, concluded that risk assessment and prevention should start much earlier in life than previously recommended. The Canadian study suggests using imaging techniques that avoid patient exposure to ionizing radiation.

Researchers from Houston’s M.D. Anderson Cancer Center evaluted the prevalence and impact of off-label therapies in breast cancer and found that nearly 35% of women were treated with off-label chemotherapy at some point during their care.

Two new studies reported at this year’s ASCO meeting demonstrated the effect of a new class of targeted therapy called poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibitors on traditionally difficult-to-treat breast cancers-so-called “triple-negative” breast cancer and BRCA1/2-deficient breast cancers.

Many women have turned to natural forms of hormone replacement for menopause since learning that conventional hormone replacement therapy (HRT) may increase their risks of breast cancer and other health problems. Most women have assumed that “natural” or “bioidentical” HRT is safer than conventional HRT. However, recent research has shown that this is not the case and that, in fact, the risks are probably similar.

Researchers at the University of Michigan discovered a gene that over expresses in about 20% of breast cancers. In order to protect their promising find, they quickly filed for a patent.