Breast Cancer

After years of varying decisions by lower courts regarding the patents held on a test for genetic mutations associated with breast cancer, the US Supreme Court has ruled that a segment of DNA in isolation is a natural product and not eligible for patent protection.

Although recent findings suggest some patients with HER2-negative breast cancer would benefit from therapies directed against overexpression of the protein, two leading oncologists do not see an immediate impact on clinical practice as further validation is needed.

Constance D. Lehman, MD, PhD, Vice Chair, Radiology Department, University of Washington School of Medicine, Medical Director, Imaging, Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, discusses the use of breast MRI.

Emiel J. Rutgers, MD, surgical oncologist, Netherlands Cancer Institute, Amsterdam, discusses a study analyzing radiotherapy or surgery of the axilla after a positive sentinel node in breast cancer patients.

Richard Finn, MD, from the Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, describes the potential impact of the cyclin-dependent kinase 4/6 inhibitor palbociclib (PD-0332991) in the treatment of patients with ER-positive metastatic breast cancer.

Women with early sentinel lymph node-positive breast cancer achieve as much of a disease-free and survival benefit from axillary radiotherapy as they do from axillary lymph node dissection with significantly less risk of lymphedema.

Jane E. Churpek, MD, discusses a study that found the inherited mutations in breast cancer genes in African American breast cancer patients were revealed by targeted genomic capture and next-generation sequencing.

New research suggests that HER2-targeted drugs may actually have much broader applications, benefiting patients who are not designated HER2-positive by routine testing.

Low-dose weekly paclitaxel is as effective and has fewer side effects than the standard biweekly schedule for patients with early-stage breast cancer.

Clifford A. Hudis, MD, ASCO President-Elect, describes the focus on global medicine at the 2013 American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting.

A British study has confirmed that 10 years of adjuvant tamoxifen substantially reduces late breast cancer recurrence and mortality among women with estrogen receptor-positive disease.

Richard G. Gray, MA, MSc, from the University of Oxford in Oxford, United Kingdom, discusses the phase III aTTom trial that explored a longer duration of treatment with tamoxifen in women with estrogen receptor-positive early breast cancer.