Breast Cancer

Findings from a highly anticipated, randomized, phase II trial could possibly pave the path for the FDA approval of the first targeted therapy for patients with triple-negative breast cancer, explains Linda T. Vahdat, MD.

Carey Anders, MD, assistant professor for the Department of Medicine, Division of Hematology and Oncology, at UNC-Chapel Hill, UNC Linebarger Comprehensive Cancer Center, discusses systemic agents available and in development for patients with breast cancer who also have brain metastases.

Richard Finn, MD associate professor of Medicine at the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine, discusses what’s next for palbociclib following the PALOMA trials.

The European Commission approved palbociclib (Ibrance) for use in patients with HR-positive, HER2-negative locally advanced or metastatic breast cancer, either in combination with an aromatase inhibitor in the frontline setting or combined with fulvestrant after progression on endocrine therapy.

Gabriel N. Hortobagyi, MD, professor of Medicine at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses the MONALEESA-2 trial, which has shown that the addition of ribociclib to letrozole significantly improved progression-free survival (PFS) in postmenopausal women with hormone receptor (HR)­-positive advanced breast cancer.

Antonio Llombart-Cussac, MD, PhD, chairman of the Medical Oncology Service at the University Hospital Arnau de Vilanova in Valencia, Spain, discusses the MERIBEL study, which assessed first-line eribulin (Halaven) for taxane-resistant patients with HER2-negative metastatic breast cancer.

Lajos Pusztai, MD, DPhil, discusses findings that suggest it is unlikely that any single gene can predict response to targeted therapy for patients with HER2-positive breast cancer.

Palbociclib demonstrated consistent improvement in progression-free survival when combined with endocrine therapy in patients with advanced estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer.

Kimberly L. Blackwell, MD, medical oncologist, Duke Cancer Institute, discusses the lasting impact that the CLEOPATRA and MARIANNE studies have had on the treatment landscape in HER2-positive breast cancer.

The FDA granted a priority review to ribociclib for use in combination with letrozole as a frontline therapy for patients with hormone-receptor–positive, HER2-negative advanced breast cancer.

Kandace McGuire, MD, associate professor of Surgery, UNC Department of Surgery, Division of Surgical Oncology, UNC School of Medicine, discusses refinements needed in surgery for the treatment of patients with metastatic breast cancer during the 2016 OncLive State of the Science Summit on Metastatic Breast Cancer.

Approximately 75% of invasive breast cancers are estrogen receptor (ER)–positive. Although ER-positive breast cancer typically responds well to initial endocrine therapy, most patients eventually become resistant to treatment and experience disease progression.

Erin Wysong Hofstatter, MD, associate professor, co-director, Cancer Genetics and Prevention Program, Yale Cancer Center, discusses what impact the advancements with molecular testing have had on the identification of genetic abnormalities in patients with breast cancer.

Although breast cancer research has helped chart the course for molecularly targeted therapies in oncology, next-generation sequencing technologies have revealed a disease so highly complex and heterogeneous that translating these findings into clinically useful therapies has proved daunting.

Kimberly L. Blackwell, MD, discusses the latest advances for patients with HER2-positive breast cancer and provides insight on the hurdles that still remain.

Gabriel N. Hortobagyi, MD, discusses the MONALEESA-2 trial, in which the addition of the CDK4/6 inhibitor ribociclib to letrozole significantly improved progression-free survival in women with hormone receptor–positive advanced breast cancer.

Paul Kelly Marcom, MD, associate professor of Medicine, Duke University School of Medicine, Duke Cancer Institute, discusses how the field of hormone receptor (HR)-positive breast cancer has evolved.