Dr. Ellis Discusses the Future of the PI3-Kinase Pathway

Matthew J. Ellis, MD, PhD, director, Section of Breast Oncology, Division of Oncology, Department of Medicine, Washington University, St Louis, MO, explains that phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) is frequently abnormal in estrogen receptor positive breast cancer. He explains there are drugs that work well at turning this pathway off that are currently available.

Ellis explains this is very similar to other common examples in CML and HER2-positive breast cancer. The subgroup is know and a genome forward hypothesis exists with drugs currently available to switch off the PI3K pathway. The next step to achieve the best results is to combine PI3K inhibitors with endocrine therapy.