San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium

Nab-paclitaxel (Abraxane) proved markedly more effective than conventional paclitaxel as part of a neoadjuvant regimen for patients with high-risk early breast cancer in a large German study presented at the 2014 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.

Edith A. Perez, MD, the deputy director at large for the Mayo Clinic Cancer Center, discusses the potential for immune checkpoint blockage as treatment for patients with advanced breast cancer.

The PD-1 inhibitor pembrolizumab has demonstrated promising clinical activity with an acceptable safety profile in heavily pretreated patients with recurrent metastatic triple-negative breast cancer.

The addition of the investigational PI3K inhibitor pictilisib to fulvestrant in patients with metastatic breast cancer yielded some intriguing findings in the phase II FERGI study.

Among HER2-positive breast cancer patients treated with chemotherapy alone, women with high levels of stromal tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes had an 80% lower likelihood of disease recurrence compared to those with lower TIL counts.

Charles L. Shapiro, MD, professor, College of Medicine, The James, Ohio State University Comprehensive Care Center, discusses the underutilization of preventative drugs for breast cancer.

Martine Piccart, MD, PhD, director of medicine at the Jules Bordet Institute in Brussels, Belgium, gives an update on a four-year follow-up analysis of the NeoALTTO trial.

Leigh A. Neumayer, MD, discusses the POWER PIINC trial, a study to measure the preoperative window of endocrine therapy.

Elizabeth Garner, MD, MPH, vice president, Clinical Affairs, Preventive Care, Myriad Genetics, discusses the myRisk Hereditary Cancer Test.

Postneoadjuvant bisphosphonate therapy in women with residual invasive disease following chemotherapy for primary breast cancer does not improve clinical outcomes, according to an interim analysis of a large phase III clinical trial presented at the 2013 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.

Laura J. Esserman, MD, discusses the I-SPY 2 trial, a clinical trial for women with newly diagnosed, locally advanced breast cancer.

Andrew J. Brenner, MD, PhD, from the Cancer Therapy Research Center, discusses the link between obesity and breast cancer outcomes.

Julie R. Gralow, MD, from the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, discusses the SWOG S0500 trial, which evaluated different therapies for patients with metastatic breast cancer who had elevated circulating tumor cell levels.

The first results from the novel the I-SPY 2 trial show encouraging possibilities for a veliparib/carboplatin combination therapy in TNBC.

Antiangiogenic therapy with ramucirumab, an investigational agent that binds to VEGFR-2, added to first-line docetaxel failed to delay the progression of HER2-negative metastatic breast cancer.

Switching chemotherapy based on level of elevated circulating tumor cells after one cycle of chemotherapy did not improve OS or PFS in women with metastatic breast cancer.

The addition of carboplatin to standard neoadjuvant chemotherapy increased pathologic complete response rates in patients with triple-negative breast cancer.

The combination of everolimus, trastuzumab, and vinorelbine, as given in the BOLERO-3 trial in patients with pretreated HER2-positive advanced breast cancer, is adequately tolerated, and adverse events are manageable.

Kristi McIntyre, MD, from Texas Oncology, discusses the results of a phase II, multicenter, single-arm study that studies eribulin mesylate as first-line therapy for locally recurrent or metastatic HER2-negative breast cancer.

Matthew J. Ellis, MD, PhD, from the Siteman Cancer Center, discusses the ongoing phase III FALCON trial.

Edith A. Perez, MD, professor of medicine, Mayo Clinic, discusses the antibody drug conjugate T-DM1 as a treatment for patients with breast cancer.

In women with metastatic breast cancer that responds to frontline chemotherapy, locoregional treatment (LRT) of the primary tumor and axillary nodes does not produce an increase in overall survival (OS),

PIK3CA-mutated tumors in patients with HER2-positive (HER+) breast cancer (BC) are associated with a much lower rate of pathological complete response (pCR). The lowest pCR was observed in HER2+/hormone receptor-positive (HR+), PIK3CA-mutated tumors.

Adam Brufsky, MD, PhD, FACP, discusses the tnAcity trial, which is aimed to clarify how best to use existing drugs in patients with triple-negative breast cancer.

A prescribed exercise program reduces joint pain in breast cancer survivors taking AIs, with pain reductions observed at all levels of exercise.

Anastrozole may be a new option for primary prevention of breast cancer in postmenopausal women at high risk for the disease.

Pathologic complete response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy had a significant correlation with survival in early HER2-positive breast cancer after 4 years of follow-up.