PER® Miami Breast Cancer Conference

Kevin Hughes, MD, discusses the role of genetic testing in breast cancer.

Gene profiling assays can accurately and reproducibly assist decision making for patients with hormone receptor-positive breast cancer, with the ultimate goal of improving outcomes or avoiding toxicity.

Mark E. Robson, MD, discusses the potential utility of tucatinib in the treatment of patients with HER2-positive breast cancer.

The release of new evidence that CDK4/6 inhibition results in survival gains for patients with hormone receptor–positive, HER2-negative metastatic breast cancer marks a new milestone for the therapeutic approach and may help set the stage for expanding use of these agents into earlier clinical settings.

Given the solid correlation between the risk of locoregional recurrence (LRR) and distant recurrence, several investigators have examined whether genomic assays that predict risk of distant recurrence can also predict risk of LRR.

Blood-based biomarkers offer great potential for use in the management of breast and other cancers.

David M. Euhus, MD, discusses a new trio of genes entering the risk assessment equation in hereditary breast cancer.

Identifying patients with ductal carcinoma in situ who are more likely to develop invasive breast cancer remains a challenge, despite decades of research and the development of stratification methods to predict progression and recurrence.

There has been much progress in the treatment of estrogen receptor-positive metastatic breast cancer over the past 40 years, and novel therapies are further expanding therapeutic options.

Since 2006, the European Medicines Agency has granted marketing authorization for more than 40 biosimilars, and, in less than 4 years, the FDA has approved 17, yet the knowledge gap in the understanding of biosimilarity poses a unique challenge to the agents’ assimilation into clinical practice and possible impact on access and cost savings, experts say.

The treatment of patients with advanced HER2-positive breast cancer could be reshaped in the next several years as clinical trials of several exciting new drugs begin to yield results.

Although the first checkpoint inhibitor has just been approved for patients with breast cancer, findings from dozens of ongoing studies may eventually change the paradigm for large subsets of those with the malignancy.

The development of antibody-drug conjugates represents a promising strategy for patients with metastatic triple-negative breast cancer, with early clinical trial results suggesting that novel agents could eventually change the landscape for this patient population.

With tremendous advances and the accelerated approval of atezolizumab plus nab-paclitaxel for patients with unresectable locally advanced or metastatic PD-L1–positive triple-negative breast cancer, provider education in identifying associated toxicities from checkpoint inhibitor therapy is critical.

Hope S. Rugo, MD, director, Breast Oncology and Clinical Trials Education, University of California San Francisco Comprehensive Cancer Center, discusses the therapeutic advancements in the breast cancer space in the past 20 years.

Debu Tripathy, MD, professor and chairman, Department of Breast Medical Oncology, Division of Cancer Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses combination strategies being investigated with CDK4/6 inhibitors in breast cancer.

The introduction of PARP inhibitors into the breast cancer treatment paradigm is a clinically meaningful advance for patients with germline BRCA1/2 mutations but much more research must be conducted to optimize their use.

The previously demonstrated progression-free survival benefit from the addition of alpelisib to fulvestrant appeared consistent among subgroups of patients with hormone receptor–positive/HER2-negative advanced breast cancer who have a PIK3CA mutation.

For more than 100 years, endocrine therapy has been used for the treatment of breast cancer; since that time, we have learned much about the role of estrogen in the biology of normal breast cancer development.

Each gene expression-based test available for risk prediction in patients with breast cancer has unique properties and they are not interchangeable, placing importance on the clinical studies used to validate the clinical utility of each assay.

Elizabeth A. Mittendorf, MD, PhD, director of the Breast Immuno-Oncology Program at Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women's Cancer Center, discusses the frontline approval of atezolizumab in combination with nab-paclitaxel in patients with locally advanced or metastatic PD-L1

Sara A. Hurvitz, MD, director of the Breast Oncology Program, medical director of the Clinical Research Unit, University of California, Los Angeles Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, discusses the recent FDA approval of subcutaneous use of trastuzumab (Herceptin) and hyaluronidase-oysk injection (Herceptin Hylecta) in the HER2-positive breast cancer space.

After nearly 30 years as a breast cancer surgeon, Patrick I. Borgen, MD, finds that the most enduring theme in the field is constant change.

The breast cancer field is experiencing rapid advancements in the understanding of disease biology and the development of novel therapeutic strategies for several subtypes, with a clear direction toward personalized or precision medicine.

Data from the SHAVE and SHAVE2 trials, in terms of long-term outcomes vis-à-vis local recurrence, may lend some insight into the impact of adjuvant therapy on reducing the ramifications of a positive margin.

Jean-Bernard Durand, MD, discusses the possibility of repairing cardiac damage in patients with HER2-positive breast cancer.

Employing preclinical detection using bioimpedance spectroscopy, breast centers are reporting progression to clinical lymphedema in less than 10% of patients at high risk of developing the condition.

Andrew Seidman, MD, focuses on his view of the increasing role of nurse practitioners in the outpatient setting and hospitalists in the inpatient setting.