Dr Nanda on the Translational Breast Cancer Research Consortium

“So many of these trials are innovative, biomarker-rich trials. We're studying patients with all different types and stages of breast cancer in the hopes of improving outcomes for patients.”

Rita Nanda, MD, the director of the Breast Oncology Programs and an associate professor of medicine at UChicago Medicine, discussed the design and research goals of The Translational Breast Cancer Research Consortium.

The Translational Breast Cancer Research Consortium is a collaborative group composed of 18 clinical sites across the United States that have come together to conduct innovative trials in breast cancer, Nanda began. The studies in the consortium are largely biomarker-driven and identify promising treatment strategies to advance through the clinical development pipeline, she added. Most of the studies under the Translational Breast Cancer Research Consortium umbrella involve tumor biopsy to better understand the tumor composition and match the patient with a personalized treatment regimen, she explained.

Initiatives such as the Translational Breast Cancer Research Consortium signal the shift in the breast cancer field to precision oncology rather than the one-size-fits-all approach that has been employed in the past, Nanda said. The Translational Breast Cancer Research Consortium was founded in 2005. The group also includes 5 core working groups, 4 other groups focused on specific breast cancer phenotypes, 4 interest groups, a patient recruitment task force, a patient advocate working groups, a study coordinator working group, a contracts/administrators working group, and a central office. Active studies under the consortium’s supervision include evaluations of avelumab (Bavencio) or hydroxychloroquine (Plaquenil), with or without palbociclib (Ibrance), in patients with dormant breast cancer; avelumab with binimetinib (Mektovi), sacituzumab govitecan-hziy (Trodelvy), or liposomal doxorubicin in patients with stage IV or unresectable, recurrent triple-negative breast cancer, and enzalutamide (Xtandi); enzalutamide in combination with mifepristone; or chemotherapy in patients with metastatic breast cancer.