PER® Miami Breast Cancer Conference

A number of crucial findings were presented over the course of 2015 that helped to characterize an ever-growing trend toward personalized medicine in the treatment of breast cancer.

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.

Sunil Verma, MD, department head, Clinical Department of Oncology, Calgary Zone, medical director, Tom Baker Cancer Centre, discusses recent advancements in the field of HER2-positive breast cancer.

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.

Breast cancer survivor and Good Morning America news anchor Amy Robach delivered a compelling keynote address at the 33rd Annual Miami Breast Cancer Conference®.

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.

Elizabeth A. Mittendorf, MD, PhD, associate professor, Department of Surgical Oncology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses a clinical trial examining nelipepimut-S plus GM-CSF vaccine therapy as a treatment for patients with breast cancer.

The rapid advance of oncology drug development requires evolving beyond using overall survival in randomized trials as the only acceptable endpoint.

Carboplatin shows promise in treating metastatic BRCA-mutated triple negative breast cancer.

William F. Symmans, MB, ChB, Division of Pathology/Lab Medicine, Department of Pathology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses the institution's Moon Shots program for patients with triple-negative breast cancer.

Kimberly L. Blackwell, MD, medical oncologist, Duke Cancer Institute, discusses using the word "cure" in patients with breast cancer who have not had recurrences of disease.

OncLive spoke with Kelly K. Hunt, MD, about how breast cancer interventions have progressed in the adjuvant and neoadjuvant setting and about the role of sentinel lymph node dissection in the neoadjuvant setting.

The reduction of breast cancer risk with 5 years of tamoxifen does not outweigh the lack of a mortality benefit, according to J. Michael Dixon, MD, OBE, who shared his view in a session at the 32nd Annual Miami Breast Cancer Conference.

Deanna J. Attai, MD, FACS, who interacts with her thousands of followers on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, her blog, and other social media platforms, recently educated other physicians on what their role can be on social media.

A detailed tumor profile of molecular and protein alterations in a rare breast cancer subtype and a retrospective analysis about the impact of radiation after breast conserving surgery took home top honors at the Miami Breast Cancer Conference this year.

Compelling clinical trial evidence supports the use of hypofractionated radiation as the standard of care for postmenopausal women with luminal A tumors and node-negative disease.

Mark D. Pegram, MD, associate director, clinical research, director, Breast Cancer Program, Stanford Cancer Institute, goes over some of the challenges surrounding neoadjuvant treatment for HER2-positive breast cancer patients.

Hyman B. Muss, MD, professor of oncology, University of North Carolina, director, Geriatric Oncology, Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, discusses optimizing adjuvant treatment in older patients with breast cancer.

Joan Lunden presented the keynote address at the Miami Breast Cancer Conference where she spoke powerfully and from the heart in a talk perfectly aligned with the meeting's focus on the patient perspective.

Heterogeneity, which can result in treatment resistance, is commonly underestimated and misunderstood, representing an important area of future research.

In a discussion at the Miami Breast Cancer Conference, Clifford A. Hudis, MD, suggested that an increased risk for developing breast cancer might be a consequence of inflammation that often accompanies obesity.

George W. Sledge, Jr., MD, professor of medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, explains how tumor heterogeneity impacts patient care and research.

Lisa A. Carey, MD, professor of medicine, Breast Cancer Research, University of North Carolina, medical director, UNC Breast Center, chief of Hematology/Oncology, physician-in-chief, UNC North Carolina Cancer Hospital, discusses treatment options and challenges in triple-negative breast cancer.

Moving early to diagnose and treat lymphedema after breast cancer treatment can reverse this side effect or prevent it from becoming more severe.

Tumor genome profiling identifies driver mutations in breast tumors, however, it is still too early to use this information in clinical decision making.

While not appropriate for all patients with ER-positive breast cancer, neoadjuvant endocrine therapy could play an important role in select groups of women with comorbidities or those with ER-rich/luminal A disease.

The FDA's recent approval of the first PARP inhibitor suggests that this new class of targeted therapy has great potential to help not only patients with ovarian cancer for whom the agent is indicated but also individuals with breast cancer.