Breast Cancer | Specialty

The OncLive Breast Cancer condition center page is a comprehensive resource for clinical news and expert insights on various types of breast cancer, including those that are triple negative, hormone receptor positive, and/or HER2 positive. This page features news articles, interviews in written and video format, and podcasts that focus on treatment advances and ongoing research in breast cancer.

Nab-Paclitaxel Proves More Beneficial Than Paclitaxel in Some Subsets of Breast Cancer

January 7th 2017

Nab-paclitaxel provides more benefits than paclitaxel for certain subsets of patients with breast cancer.

Dr. O'Regan Discusses BELLE-3 Study in Breast Cancer

January 7th 2017

Ruth O’Regan, MD, division head of Hematology and Oncology in the Department of Medicine at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, discusses BELLE-3, a phase III study of buparlisib (BKM120) plus fulvestrant (Faslodex) in postmenopausal women with hormone receptor (HR)-positive, HER2-negative, locally advanced or metastatic breast cancer, who progressed on or after mTOR inhibitor-based treatment and were treated with an aromatase inhibitor.

Dr. Coleman on Findings From the AZURE Trial for Breast Cancer Treatment

January 7th 2017

Robert E. Coleman, MBBS, MD, FRCP, FRCPE, professor of Medical Oncology and head of the Academic Unit of Clinical Oncology at the University of Sheffield, discusses the safety findings from the 10-year follow-up of the adjuvant treatment with zoledronic acid (ZOL) in stage II/III breast cancer, which was studied in the AZURE trial.

Steven Buechler Discusses EarlyR Gene Signature in the BIG 1-98 Trial for Breast Cancer

January 6th 2017

Steven Buechler, PhD, Department of Applied and Computational Mathematics and Statistics at the University of Notre Dame, discusses independent validation of the EarlyR gene signature in the Breast International Group (BIG) 1-98 study. This randomized, double-blind, phase III trial compared letrozole with tamoxifen as an adjuvant endocrine therapy for postmenopausal women with hormone receptor-positive, early breast cancer

Dr. Blok on Results of Adjuvant Letrozole Study in Breast Cancer

January 6th 2017

Erik J. Blok, MD, Department of Medical Oncology at Leiden University Medical Center, discusses the duration of adjuvant endocrine therapy. Blok claims that there is no breast cancer survival benefit in extending adjuvant letrozole treatment from 2.5 to 5 years.

Cecile Pizot on Breast Cancer Mortality in Latin America and Asia

January 6th 2017

Cecile Pizot, biostatistician in epidemiology at the International Prevention Research Institute, discusses the changes in mortality rates in breast cancer around the world. In a study on 47 countries, 39 saw breast cancer mortality rates decline, but mortality rates were on the rise in Latin American and Asian countries.

Dr. Mittendorf on Vaccines as Prevention for Breast Cancer

January 6th 2017

Elizabeth A. Mittendorf, MD, PhD, associate professor in the Department of Surgical Oncology at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses the possibility of using vaccines as a preventative measure for breast cancer, particularly to fight recurrence.

Prophylactic Treatment Reduces Neratinib-Related Toxicity in HER2+ Breast Cancer

January 5th 2017

A prophylactic treatment of loperamide plus budesonide reduced the rate of grade 3 diarrhea associated with neratinib.

Lapatinib Plus Whole-Brain Radiotherapy May Control Brain Metastases in HER2+ Breast Cancer

January 4th 2017

An investigation of the tyrosine kinase inhibitor lapatinib plus whole-brain radiotherapy has entered into a phase II trial in the treatment of patients with brain metastases from HER2-positive breast cancer.

Dr. Brufsky on Cobimetinib Plus Paclitaxel in TNBC

January 4th 2017

Adam M. Brufsky, MD, PhD, professor of Medicine, associate chief of Hematology/Oncology, co-director of the Comprehensive Breast Care Center, associate director of Clinical Investigation, University of Pittsburgh, discusses combining cobimetinib and paclitaxel as a first-line treatment in patients with advanced triple-negative breast cancer.

Novel Combinations Key to Advancing HR+ Breast Cancer Care

December 27th 2016

Paul Kelly Marcom, MD, discusses the future landscape of HR-positive breast cancer, highlighting the influence of CDK4/6 inhibitors and targeted agent/endocrine therapy combinations.

Expert Predicts TNBC Will Evolve to Include More Subsets, Tailored Therapies

December 27th 2016

Lisa Carey, MD, discusses the current state of the science in triple-negative breast cancer, the potential for immunotherapy, and future treatment approaches she anticipates in the coming years.

Post-Mastectomy Radiation Associated With Increased Complications for Some Patients

December 22nd 2016

Patients with breast cancer who received radiation therapy after undergoing a mastectomy reported increased complications and lower satisfaction.

FDA Grants Priority Review to sNDA for Full Approval of Palbociclib in Breast Cancer

December 22nd 2016

The FDA has granted a priority review to a supplemental new drug application supporting the conversation of the accelerated approval of palbociclib (Ibrance) to a full approval for use in combination with letrozole as a frontline treatment for postmenopausal women with ER-positive, HER2-negative metastatic breast cancer.

FDA Grants Marketing Approval to AeroForm Tissue Expansion Device for Patients Following Mastectomy

December 22nd 2016

The FDA has approved the marketing of AeroForm, a new system for soft tissue expansion in 2-stage breast reconstruction following mastectomy, and in the treatment of underdeveloped breasts and soft tissue deformities.

MM-302 Falls Short in Phase II HER2+ Breast Cancer Trial

December 21st 2016

The phase II HERMIONE trial was halted after the antibody-drug conjugate MM-302 combined with trastuzumab failed to improve progression-free survival versus chemotherapy plus trastuzumab in patients with HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer who had previously received trastuzumab, pertuzumab, and ado-trastuzumab emtansine.

Hurvitz Sheds Light on Abemaciclib Activity in HR+/HER2- Breast Cancer

December 20th 2016

The neoadjuvant combination of CDK4/6 inhibitor abemaciclib plus anastrazole may represent a novel therapeutic option for patients with hormone receptor-positive, HER2-negative early breast cancer.

Axillary Lymph Node Dissection Can Be Avoided for Some Patients With Breast Cancer, Study Shows

December 19th 2016

Results of a clinical trial show that an axillary lymph node dissection can be avoided for patients with large, operable tumors in the breast, no clinical signs of cancer in the axillary nodes before being treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy, and no signs of cancer following a sentinel lymph node biopsy during surgery.

Continuous Low-Dose Ribociclib Both Safe and Active in Advanced Breast Cancer

December 16th 2016

A continuous low-dose of ribociclib demonstrated both preliminary activity and an acceptable safety profile when compared with an intermittent dose of ribociclib when combined with fulvestrant in the treatment of postmenopausal patients with hormone receptor-positive, HER2-negative advanced breast cancer.

Carboplatin Response Rate Not Superior to Docetaxel in BRCA1 Methylated or Silenced TNBC

December 16th 2016

Testing for BRCA1 methylation or mRNA silencing did not predict a better response to carboplatin over docetaxel in patients with advanced triple-negative or BRCA1/2 breast cancer.