Breast Cancer

Judy C. Boughey, MD, chair, Division of Surgery Research, Mayo Clinic, discusses the surgical approach for patients with HER2-positive breast cancer.

Experts debated whether platinum-based or other additional systemic agents be used in high-risk triple-negative breast cancer, as well as other treatment discussions in breast cancer.

Joyce O’Shaughnessy, MD, discusses how four agents—palbociclib (Ibrance), pembrolizumab (Keytruda), abemaciclib (LY2835219), and buparlisib (BKM120)—are worth examining in estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer.

Elizabeth Mittendorf, MD, PhD, discusses checkpoint inhibition studies in triple-negative breast cancer, potential ways to make other subtypes more immunogenic to improve response, the role of PD-1, and what’s next in the field of immunotherapy in breast cancer.

The accumulation of evidence supporting a regimen of anthracycline and taxanes for breast cancer has led some oncologists to argue for the establishment of a standard treatment plan that deemphasizes or eliminates alternative options.

Andrew D. Seidman, MD, medical oncologist, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, discusses the label indication for ixabepilone (Ixempra) for the treatment of patients with aggressive breast cancer.

A study involving nearly 30,000 patients diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer has found that up to 60% of these women received imaging tests such as CT, bone, and PET scans that were not medically justified, contrary to national guidelines.

Constance D. Lehman, MD, PhD, explains how tomosynthesis, otherwise known as 3D mammography, is already recognized as the new standard of care in terms of breast cancer screening.

The antibody–drug conjugate sacituzumab govitecan (IMMU-132) received a breakthrough therapy designation based on phase II trial data showing a response rate of 31% in heavily pretreated patients with metastatic TNBC. However, treatment advances are lagging behind those seen in other breast cancer phenotypes.

Elizabeth A. Mittendorf, MD, PhD, discusses nelipepimut-S (NeuVax), a peptide derived from HER2 protein combined with granulocyte-macrophage colonystimulating factor that is currently being investigated as a single-agent, in combination with standard-of-care therapies, and in multiple settings and subtypes of breast cancer.

Gunter von Minckwitz, MD, director of the German Breast Group Research Institute, discusses lessons learned from clinical trials examining neoadjuvant therapies in patients with breast cancer.

Debu Tripathy, MD, chair, Breast Medical Oncology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses the use of ixabepilone as a treatment for patients with triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC).

There is a subset of low-risk patients with ductal carcinoma in situ for whom surgery alone is optimal and the Oncotype DX DCIS Score is a useful assay for identifying these individuals.

Pathologic complete response may still have a role in accelerated neoadjuvant approvals for select patients with early stage breast cancer, despite the fact that it remains an unproven surrogate endpoint.

Amy Robach, breast cancer survivor and Good Morning America news anchor, describes her diagnosis of a 2 cm tumor in her right breast that appeared isolated on ultrasound and other subsequent scans.

The combination of the alpha-specific PI3K inhibitor alpelisib (BYL719) and fulvestrant (Faslodex) demonstrated promising early efficacy and mild toxicity in heavily pretreated postmenopausal women with ER-positive metastatic breast cancer.

Among patients with HR+/HER2- or triple-negative metastatic breast cancer, nab-paclitaxel (Abraxane) improved time to treatment discontinuation, time to next treatment, and had a favorable safety profile compared with paclitaxel.