Breast Cancer

Extending the duration of adjuvant tamoxifen treatment to 10 years was more effective than the standard 5 years of treatment in protecting against recurrence and death among women with ER+ breast cancer.

Judy C. Boughey, MD, from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN, discusses surgical techniques examined in the Z1071 study that could help minimize the false negative rates experienced with SLN surgery.

Richard Finn, MD, from the Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, describes results from a phase II study that examined PD 0332991 in combination with letrozole for women with metastatic ER-positive breast cancer.

For the past 10 years, Matthew J.C. Ellis, MB BChir, PhD, has focused his research on exploring the breast cancer genome in partnerships with academic and government-funded centers in the United States and the United Kingdom.

The clinical subtyping of breast cancer appears to be coming into a golden era as an increased understanding of subtyping promises to help advance treatments and outcomes for patients.

José Baselga, MD, PhD, Physician-in-Chief, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, compares results from two trials analyzing the mTOR inhibitors temsirolimus and everolimus in breast cancer.

Erica L. Mayer, MD, MPH, assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, describes studies involving tivozanib, a potent VEGF receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor.

The pace of discovery in breast cancer research has been brisk in the past year, leading not only to the approval of several new therapies but also to clinical trial results with the potential to change practice.

Despite the trend toward targeted therapies, cytotoxic drugs remain a mainstay of metastatic breast cancer treatment, and new therapies in that class are needed.

Jeffrey N. Weitzel, MD, from City of Hope, discusses the need to develop combination strategies for patients with breast cancer, in order to overcome the resistance.

Older women with breast cancer who prefer less input from their physician when deciding on treatment are less likely to receive chemotherapy than women who prefer to rely on their physician to a greater degree, a recent study has found.

José Baselga, MD, PhD, from Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, discusses the investigation of pan-PI3K inhibitors for patients with metastatic breast cancer.

Pertuzumab, a new HER2-positive breast cancer drug, is being launched at a 31% premium to the price of trastuzumab.

Debu Tripathy, MD, from the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, discusses a phase II trial that examined GRN1005 in patients with brain metastases from breast cancer.

Hope S. Rugo, MD, from the UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, previews the 2012 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium program.

Novel combinations of hormonal therapies with targeted agents show promise for improved outcomes and are likely to become part of a new paradigm for managing patients.

Investigators have documented a significant 4.5-month median overall survival advantage with lapatinib combined with trastuzumab in women with heavily pretreated HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer.

Terry P. Mamounas, MD, MPH, from Aultman Hospital Cancer Center, discusses the administration of neoadjuvant chemotherapy for patients with early-stage breast cancer.