Dr. Arteaga on Ongoing Trials in Metastatic Breast Cancer

Carlos L. Arteaga, MD, associate director for Clinical Research, director, Center for Cancer Targeted Therapies, Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, discusses some of the ongoing trials exploring treatments for patients with metastatic breast cancer.

Arteaga mentions ongoing research examining a comparison of anti-estrogen therapy to anti-estrogen plus PI3K-alpha inhibitors. PI3K-alpha inhibitors target the enzyme PI3K-alpha, which is mutated in up to 50% of ER-positive breast cancers.

He also discusses FGF receptor inhibitors and patients with FGFR amplification. Administration of this type of therapy will depend on alterations in the tumor.

Arteaga goes on to briefly discuss ongoing research that is focused on oral anti-estrogen therapies, which have been shown to be beneficial in ER mutations. These types of drugs are also extremely convenient in terms of administration for patients, and they may have better pharmacology than other therapies.