Dr. Tauer on the Expansion of Subtyping in Breast Cancer

Kurt W. Tauer, MD, FACP, associate professor, Department of Hematology/Oncology, the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, and senior partner, chief of staff, West Cancer Center, discusses the expansion of subtyping in breast cancer.

There is still much work to be done with creating subtypes of breast cancer and finding treatments that are effective within those groups, explains Tauer. The recent approval of alpelisib (Piqray) for patients with PIK3CA-mutated breast cancer demonstrates the effectiveness of personalized medicine in this field.

To develop more subtypes of breast cancer in which researchers are looking for treatment, Tauer recommends performing more next-generation sequencing. Personalized medicine, currently being developed in breast cancer with the emergence of estrogen receptor, progesterone receptor, and HER2 data, is positive for the future of treatment, concludes Tauer.