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.

Brock Schroeder Discusses BCI Findings in ER+ Breast Cancer

December 13th 2016

Brock Schroeder, PhD, senior director, Medical and Scientific Affairs at bioTheranostics, discusses findings regarding the Breast Cancer Index in predicting patients with estrogen receptor (ER)-positive breast cancer at high risk of recurrence.

Patient-Friendly Policies Extend to Decision Making

December 12th 2016

It was not that long ago that decisions regarding cancer management were essentially made exclusively by the treating physician, with patients simply being informed of “the plan” for their treatment.

Nab-Paclitaxel/Carboplatin Doublet Superior in Phase II tnAcity Trial

December 11th 2016

The combination of nab-paclitaxel and carboplatin reduced the risk of progression or death by 40% compared with 2 other chemotherapy doublets as a frontline therapy for patients with metastatic triple-negative breast cancer.

Pembrolizumab Shows Durable Responses in Heavily Pretreated TNBC

December 10th 2016

Treatment with pembrolizumab continued to show a consistent durable benefit with an additional year of follow-up for heavily pretreated patients with recurrent PD-L1-positive metastatic triple-negative breast cancer.

Dr. Burris on Updated MONALEESA-2 Trial Results for HR+ Breast Cancer

December 10th 2016

Howard A. "Skip" Burris, MD, president of Clinical Operations and chief medical officer at Sarah Cannon Research Institute, discusses updated findings from the MONALEESA-2 trial, which explored first-line treatment with ribociclib plus letrozole in patients with hormone receptor (HR)-positive, HER2-negative breast cancer.

Dr. Tolaney on Pembrolizumab Plus Eribulin in TNBC

December 10th 2016

Sara M. Tolaney, MD, MPH, associate director, Clinical Research, Breast Oncology, Susan F. Smith Center for Women's Cancers, senior physician, instructor in Medicine, Harvard Medical School, discusses a phase Ib/II trial exploring eribulin mesylate (Halaven) in combination with pembrolizumab (Keytruda) in patients with metastatic triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC).

Pembrolizumab/Eribulin Combo Shows Promise for TNBC

December 10th 2016

The combination of pembrolizumab and eribulin demonstrated a 33.3% objective response rate for patients with metastatic triple-negative breast cancer who received 0 to 2 prior lines of therapy.

IBM's Watson Achieves High Concordance in Tumor Board Test

December 10th 2016

The artificial intelligence computer program Watson for Oncology (WFO) achieved a high degree of concordance with tumor board recommendations in a double-blinded validation study in Bengaluru, India, according to results presented at the 2016 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS).

AI Therapy May Pose Cardiovascular Risk for Breast Cancer Survivors

December 10th 2016

Aromatase inhibitor (AI) therapy may pose a risk of cardiovascular disease to postmenopausal women with early-stage breast cancer, raising the possibility of a long-term complication in an era of growing survivorship when patients are treated with estrogen-targeting drugs for years.

Women With Menopausal Symptoms Less Likely to Adhere to Breast Cancer Prevention Treatment

December 10th 2016

Women who are experiencing symptoms of menopause are less likely to adhere to treatment, according to findings presented at the 2016 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.

Ribociclib Shows Consistent Benefit in Advanced Breast Cancer Subgroups

December 10th 2016

A subgroup analysis of the randomized MONALEESA-2 trial showed that patients with advanced HR-positive, HER2-negative breast cancer, and visceral metastases obtained a significant benefit from treatment with the CDK4/6 inhibitor ribociclib combined with letrozole.

Sacituzumab Govitecan Elicits Durable Responses for Pretreated TNBC

December 10th 2016

Treatment with sacituzumab govitecan was well-tolerated and induced durable responses, some lasting longer than 1 year, for heavily pretreated patients with metastatic triple-negative breast cancer.

More Evidence That Scalp Cooling Devices Work, Especially During Taxane-Based Chemotherapy

December 9th 2016

Findings from the first prospective, randomized clinical trial to evaluate modern scalp-cooling demonstrate that the system is safe and effective in reducing hair loss in women being treated with chemotherapy for their breast cancer, especially for those on taxane-based regimens.

Prophylactic Regimen Reduces Neratinib-Related Diarrhea in HER2+ Breast Cancer

December 9th 2016

Prophylactic treatment with the combination of loperamide and budesonide reduced the rate of grade ≥3 diarrhea associated with neratinib to 15% compared with 39.9% observed in the ExteNET trial.

New Mechanism of Action Results Renew Interest in Eribulin

December 9th 2016

There has been renewed interest in eribulin mesylate following its FDA approval for advanced or unresectable liposarcoma and with the introduction of a growing body of preclinical work suggesting the agent has a novel anti–mesenchymal mechanism of action.

Dr. Robertson on Subgroup Analysis of the FALCON Trial for HR+ Breast Cancer

December 9th 2016

John Robertson, MD, professor of Surgery, University of Nottingham, Royal Derby Hospital Centre, United Kingdom, discusses a subgroup analysis of the FALCON trial, which compared treatment with fulvestrant (Faslodex) versus anastrozole (Arimidex) in patients with HR-positive advanced breast cancer.

Neoadjuvant Estrogen Attack Falters in High-Risk Breast Cancer Patients

December 9th 2016

An attempt to strengthen neoadjuvant treatment of patients with locally advanced HR-positive and HER2-positive breast cancer by adding estrogen deprivation therapy to a standard regimen failed to significantly improve response rates but did illustrate the extensive toxicity of the chemotherapy agents used in this setting.

Biomarker Analysis Shows Promise for Predicting Breast Cancer Response

December 9th 2016

A biomarker analysis of participants in a phase II breast cancer trial demonstrated potential for identifying tumor markers to predict susceptibility to specific therapies.

HER2-Enriched Breast Tumor Subtype Predicts Response to HER2 Dual Blockade

December 9th 2016

The HER2-enriched subtype of HER2-positive breast cancer is a strong predictor of sensitivity to dual HER2 blockade without the use of chemotherapy.

No Clinical Benefit With Adjuvant Ibandronate in Postmenopausal Breast Cancer

December 9th 2016

Adjuvant ibandronate (Boniva) added to hormone therapy did not provide a clinical benefit to postmenopausal patients with HR-positive, early-stage breast cancer, according to findings from the phase III TEAM IIB trial.