Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) continues to carry a poor prognosis. However, novel prognostic and potentially predictive biomarkers may soon improve that bleak outlook, according to a series of studies presented on Saturday at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting in Chicago.
Live coverage of the ASCO session on PARP inhibitors and DNA repair, with speakers Michael Kastan, Judy Garber, and Elisabeth Plummer.
A study published online on May 10, 2011 in the British Journal of Cancer has shown evidence for a new prognostic factor in breast cancer: an increase in cancer stem cell population after primary systemic therapy. The study results indicate that putative cancer stem cells may be chemoresistant to conventional anthracycline-based chemotherapy and may have a role in disease progression following chemotherapy treatment.
Melanie Bone, MD, was not yet 40 years old and had four young children when she was diagnosed with stage III breast cancer. “Even though I am a doctor and surgeon, I learned firsthand about the side effects of cancer treatment,” said Dr. Bone, a nutritional gynecologist. “I was too sick to work, so I spent time thinking about how to make the cancer experience easier for future cancer patients.”
David Mankoff speaks on new developments in imaging and recommends ASCO sessions on imaging clinical trials.
A 57-year-old patient presents for evaluation of right nipple discomfort. The patient has family history of a mother and sister with premenopausal breast cancer.
In 2004, Dr. Leisha Emens and I reviewed the use of trastuzumab (Herceptin), the monoclonal antibody directed against the HER2 protein, in the treatment of breast cancer.
A 33-patient Phase 1/2 study in Europe published in the European Journal of Cancer has shown that a new chemotherapy combo of a novel taxoid, cabazitaxel, and capectiabine shows promise in previously treated metastatic breast cancer patients.
In a prospective study published online first on March 28, 2011 in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, researchers have shown, for the first time, that annual MRI screenings can reduce breast cancer-related mortality in women with a BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation.
Many historical evolutions of concepts have emerged regarding lobular neoplasia (LN) since 1865, when Cornil first described this entity as “intraepithelial breast carcinoma in lobules.
Breast cancers of lobular histology are not frequently encountered, but are nevertheless the second most common histologic subtype of breast cancer after ductal adenocarcinoma.
A 40-year-old premenopausal woman with a new diagnosis of invasive lobular carcinoma occurring in a background of lobular carcinoma in situ presents to a multidisciplinary second opinion clinic.
The study represents one of the largest cancer genomics investigations reported, with more than 10 trillion chemical bases of DNA sequenced. While its results underscore the complexity of breast cancer biology, the mutations uncovered may provide further clues to inform personalized therapy of this common breast cancer subtype.
“Hallmarks of Cancer”, published in the journal Cell in 2000 provided a conceptual framework for the evolution of cancer as well as an all-encompassing review of the cancer field to date. The article is updated in the March 4th, 2011 issue of Cell.
Women over 50 years old with early breast cancer confined to one breast who took 20 mg of tamoxifen daily for 5 years were less likely to relapse than those who took the drug for 2 years.
Researchers at the University of Milan sought to assess the clinical relevance of biopsying primary breast cancers and secondary metastatic liver lesions to evaluate the occurrence of important markers.
The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) updated its recommendation last month on the role of bone-modifying agents in the prevention of skeletal-related events (SREs) for metastatic breast cancer patients with bone metastases.
Breast cancer has long been described as a very heterogeneous disease, and clinicians have struggled with identifying the appropriate treatment program for an individual patient on the basis of multiple variables, including histology, nuclear grade, tumor size, nodal status, hormone receptor status, and a variety of prognostic factors.
Drs. Dawood and Cristofanilli provide a concise review of inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) and succinctly cover its most salient features, including its clinicopathologic characteristics, its key molecular features, and an overview of treatment outcomes.
A new study in the journal Cancer, published by the American Cancer Society concludes that tamoxifen can save lives and decrease medical costs when taken by menopausal women under 55 years of age as a preventive measure against breast cancer.
As a clinician and researcher in the prostate cancer field, I have been hearing that prostate cancer is “20 years behind” breast cancer now for the last 25 years!
P13K inhibitors, now in the earliest stages of clinical testing, receive hopeful attention as an alternative for patients with aromatase inhibitor resistance. A new study proposes how they should be used, and for whom.
A first-in-class chemotherapy agent, eribulin, has shown that it significantly improved overall survival (OS) compared with treatment of physician’s choice (TPC) in women with metastatic breast cancer who have received at least two prior treatments.
Over the past decade, inflammatory breast cancer (IBC), a rare and aggressive subtype of locally advanced breast cancer (LABC), has received much attention at the level of public awareness as well as at the level of research.
The growing popularity of personalized cancer care has increased interest in tools that can guide physicians to the best-tailored therapies for their patients.
