Breast Cancer

It is not clear how to treat residual disease after neoadjuvant therapy in patients with early HER2-negative breast cancer. Additional chemotherapy with capecitabine improved survival in this group of patients, according to a large Japanese study presented by lead investigator Masakazu Toi, MD, PhD, Professor, Breast Surgery, Kyoto Hospital, Japan, at the 2015 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.

Younger patients with luminal A subtype breast cancer may not need chemotherapy, according to a Danish trial presented by lead investigator Torsten O. Nielsen, MD, PhD, Professor, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada, at the 2015 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium. Patients with luminal A biological subtype breast cancer have an excellent prognosis, even high-risk patients, the study suggests.

Anastrozole and tamoxifen are similarly effective in preventing breast cancer recurrence in postmenopausal women with ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS). The choice should depend on patient preferences, side-effect profiles, age, and other patient factors, according to 2 studies presented at the 2015 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.

The antibody-drug conjugate trastuzumab emtansine (T-DM1) improved overall survival (OS) compared with physician’s choice of therapy in patients with pretreated HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer, according to the final results of the phase 3 TH3RESA trial, which were presented at the 2015 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.

Breast cancer is the leading cause of premature death in women. According to the American Cancer Society (ACS), more than 40,000 US women will die of breast cancer in 2015.

Patients with early breast cancer and a low Oncotype DX recurrence score can safely receive treatment with hormone therapy alone and avoid chemotherapy, according to results of the TAILORx trial, which was sponsored by the National Cancer Institute.

San Francisco, CA—A new genetic test may allow clinicians to improve their therapy decisions by better categorizing patients into specific subtypes compared with conventional immunohistochemistry (IHC) and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) subtyping. According to data presented at the 2015 Breast Cancer Symposium, the BluePrint 80-gene assay reclassifies approximately 23% of tumors, allowing for more effective therapy selection, particularly in patients with triple-positive (HER2-positive/hormone receptor–positive) disease.

San Francisco, CA—Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) screening of women who are at average risk for breast cancer had a mean additional cancer diagnosis yield of 15.8 per 1000 patients, surpassing the yields for digital breast tomosynthesis and ultrasound in a new study. The results were presented at the 2015 Breast Cancer Symposium, by Christiane K. Kuhl, MD, Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, RWTH Aachen University, Germany. This suggests that breast MRI screening alone every 3 years may be sufficient for women at average risk.

Boston, MA—Fertility preservation by controlled ovarian hyperstimulation with concurrent letrozole (Femara) is safe in women with breast cancer, according to a single-center, prospective study on the long-term safety of fertility preservation by the use of ovarian stimulation and concurrent aromatase inhibitors in women with breast cancer, presented at the 2015 Best of ASCO meeting in Boston. Controlled ovarian hyperstimulation had no impact on relapse-free survival and enabled live births in a substantial proportion of women who later chose to retrieve their frozen embryos or oocytes.

San Antonio, TX—Adding an erythropoiesis-stimulating agent (ESA) to best supportive care failed to demonstrate noninferiority for progression-free survival (PFS) compared with best supportive care alone in patients with metastatic breast cancer, in a clinical trial known as EPO-ANE-3010 that was requested by the FDA.