Breast Cancer Research

Two clinical trials show that trastuzumab emtansine (T-DM1) improves survival compared with other standard treatments for patients with HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer that has progressed after treatment with other HER2-targeted drugs.

Using one of the largest collections of tumor samples from African Americans with breast cancer, researchers tried to assess the extent to which the molecular characteristics on these tumors might help to explain breast cancer disparities.

A new study shows that the number of women in the United States living with distant metastatic breast cancer (MBC), the most severe form of the disease, is growing. This is likely due to the aging of the U.S. population and improvements in treatment.

In a randomized trial, low-income women who role-played talking with their doctor about their survivorship care plan in a counseling session reported receiving more of their recommended care than women who did not get counseling.

Researchers are testing individualized approaches that could identify those at risk of breast cancer who need to be screened and testing screening intervals that are appropriate for each person’s level of risk.

The FDA has approved a new targeted therapy, ribociclib, and expanded its earlier approval of another targeted therapy, palbociclib, for some women with metastatic breast cancer.

Researchers have found that duloxetine (Cymbalta®), a drug most commonly used to treat depression, may also reduce joint pain caused by aromatase inhibitors in some women being treated for early-stage breast cancer.

A new study has found that subsidies for prescription drugs can improve the use of adjuvant therapy in women with early-stage breast cancer and help reduce disparities in the use of these proven treatments among black and Hispanic women.

First-line therapy consisting of ribociclib plus letrozole (Femara®) improves progression-free survival for postmenopausal women with hormone receptor-positive, HER2-negative metastatic breast cancer, according to the interim results of a phase III clinical trial.

The Breast Cancer Genetic Study in African-Ancestry Populations initiative is a collaborative research project that will identify genetic factors that may underlie breast cancer disparities. It is the largest study ever to investigate how genetic and biological factors contribute to breast cancer risk among black women.

Results from a recent clinical trial showed that extending adjuvant therapy with an aromatase inhibitor to 10 years after initial treatment can have important benefits for postmenopausal women with early-stage hormone receptor–positive breast cancer.

Low vitamin D levels are associated with metastasis in women with breast cancer, suggests a new study.

Testing for genetic mutations strongly associated with an increased risk of breast cancer has risen dramatically among women younger than age 40 who are diagnosed with the disease, according to a new study.

A new approach to disrupting genes that promote the development and spread of tumors may hold promise for treating an aggressive and difficult-to-treat type of breast cancer.

Investigators with The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) Research Network have identified molecular characteristics of a type of breast cancer, invasive lobular carcinoma (ILC), that distinguishes it from invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC), the most common invasive breast cancer subtype.

Initial findings from the Trial Assigning Individualized Options for Treatment, or TAILORx, finds that women with early-stage hormone receptor-positive breast cancer have a low risk of recurrence based on a test for the expression of 21 genes.

Bisphosphonates can reduce the rate of breast cancer recurrence in bone, according to a meta-analysis of randomized trials of bisphosphonates as adjuvant therapy for women with early-stage breast cancer.

Women who are diagnosed with a condition called ductal carcinoma in situ generally have a low risk of dying from breast cancer, a new study has found.

An interim analysis of the PALOMA3 trial shows that palbociclib plus fulvestrant extends the progression-free survival of some women with hormone receptor-positive metastatic breast cancer.

Large-scale study helps clarify factors associated with breast cancer survival in women of all ages.

Breast density is just one of several factors that should be taken into account in determining the need for additional cancer screening, study suggests.

In a large clinical trial, giving a hormone-suppressing drug helped some younger women with breast cancer get pregnant after completing cancer treatment.

Combining two drugs that target the HER2 protein, trastuzumab (Herceptin®) and pertuzumab, with chemotherapy is a new treatment option for women with HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer, according to final results from a large clinical trial.

Palbociclib (Ibrance) is approved to be used in combination with letrozole (Femara) to treat postmenopausal women with metastatic breast cancer.

A clinical trial sponsored and supported by NCI showed that suppressing ovarian function reduced breast cancer recurrence in premenopausal women receiving the drug tamoxifen after surgery for early-stage breast cancer.

The 2014 annual American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) meeting in Chicago in June highlighted results from a number of NCI-supported and -sponsored clinical trial results in women’s cancers. Taken together, these results represent important advances in our understanding of how to treat these diseases and improve the lives of those living with them.

A drug used for treating breast cancer, known as exemestane, is more effective than a common breast cancer prevention drug, tamoxifen, in preventing breast cancer recurrence in young women who also receive post-surgical treatment to suppress ovarian function. The combined results of the Tamoxifen and Exemestane Trial and Suppression of Ovarian Function Trial were presented at the 2014 ASCO Annual Meeting in Chicago.

Aberrant expression of an inflammatory protein, nitric oxide synthase 2 (NOS2), may enhance the progression and metastasis of an aggressive and less common form of breast cancer, known as the estrogen receptor-negative type of disease.

Women treated with trastuzumab (Herceptin) and chemotherapy before surgery and trastuzumab again after surgery had a reduced risk of the disease recurring or progressing compared with women who received pre-surgical chemotherapy but no trastuzumab, according to a study published in the January 30, 2010, Lancet.

Ten winners of a world-wide competition to bring emerging breast cancer research technologies to market faster were announced today by the Avon Foundation for Women, in partnership with NCI and the Center for Advancing Innovation (CAI). Avon is providing $250,000 in funding for this Challenge.

Pooled data from studies of about 2,400 men with breast cancer and 52,000 men without breast cancer confirmed that risk factors for male breast cancer include obesity, a rare genetic condition called Klinefelter syndrome, and gynecomastia.

In this trial, patients with relapsed or refractory advanced cancer and confirmed BRCA mutations who have not previously been treated with a PARP inhibitor will be given BMN 673 by mouth once a day in 28-day cycles.

Results from a randomized clinical trial showed that women with breast cancer and only micrometastases in their sentinel lymph nodes who received axillary lymph node dissection had more side effects but no improvement in disease-free survival compared with women who had no further lymph node surgery.

Taking adjuvant tamoxifen for 10 years after primary treatment leads to a greater reduction in breast cancer recurrences and deaths than taking the drug for only 5 years, according to the results of a large international clinical trial.

In this phase III trial, women with HER2-negative, HR-positive breast cancer and 1-3 positive lymph nodes with recurrence scores of 25 or lower will be randomly assigned either to undergo adjuvant chemotherapy before starting endocrine therapy or to begin endocrine therapy without chemotherapy.

A protein associated with conditions of metabolic imbalance, such as diabetes and obesity, may play a role in the development of aggressive forms of breast cancer, according to new findings by researchers at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health, and their colleagues.

Results from an international clinical trial suggest that women with metastatic, HER2-positive breast cancer that is no longer responding to the targeted therapy trastuzumab (Herceptin) may soon have a new treatment option. Women who received the investigational drug trastuzumab emtansine (T-DM1) lived more than 3 months longer without their tumors progressing than women who received the chemotherapy drug capecitabine (Xeloda) and the targeted drug lapatinib (Tykerb).

Women with breast cancer who were suffering from treatment-related menopausal symptoms experienced symptom relief with cognitive behavioral therapy, physical exercise, or both, according to a Dutch study published October 8, 2012, in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

In this study, women with breast cancer who have had surgery and are scheduled to undergo radiation therapy will be randomly assigned to one of two different stretching and relaxation programs or to a control group that will receive usual care.

A new study from The Cancer Genome Atlas captured a complete view of genomic alterations in breast cancer and classified them into four intrinsic subtypes, one of which shares many genetic features with high-grade serous ovarian cancer. Depicted are breast cancer cells with the HER2 protein, which can trigger cell growth responses, lit up in bright red. (Photo credit: NIST)

High mammographic breast density, which is a marker of increased risk of developing breast cancer, does not seem to increase the risk of death among breast cancer patients, according to a study led by Gretchen L. Gierach, Ph.D., NCI. In the image above, a physician examines a digital mammogram of a dense breast and points to a potential tumor.

Clinical trial results presented at the 2011 ASCO annual meeting showed that the aromatase inhibitor exemestane (Aromasin®)—commonly used to treat early and advanced-stage breast cancer—substantially reduced the risk of invasive breast cancer in postmenopausal women at high risk of developing the disease.

A study published in the Feb. 1, 2012, issue of JAMA found that the number of women who have one or more additional surgeries to remove suspected residual tumor tissue (re-excisions) following breast-conserving surgery (BCS) for breast cancer varies widely across surgeons and hospitals.

Long-term follow-up data from a large international phase III trial shows that postmenopausal women with early-stage hormone receptor-positive breast cancer who received 2 to 3 years of tamoxifen and then switched to the drug exemestane (Aromasin®) for a total of 5 years of adjuvant hormone therapy experienced a delay in disease recurrence and a survival advantage, compared with women who took tamoxifen for 5 years.

Adding the drug everolimus (Afinitor®) to exemestane helped postmenopausal women whose advanced breast cancer had stopped responding to hormonal therapy live about 4 months longer without the disease progressing than women who received exemestane alone.

After a median of 8 years of follow-up from a large randomized trial, women with estrogen-receptor positive breast cancer who received 5 years of treatment with letrozole were less likely to have their cancer recur or to die during follow-up than women who had 5 years of treatment with tamoxifen.

Radiation therapy after breast-conserving surgery substantially reduces the risk of cancer recurring in the breast and moderately reduces the risk of death from the disease, according to updated results from a meta-analysis by the Early Breast Cancer Trialists' Collaborative Group.

In an analysis of data from participants in 20 clinical trials, women with estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer who received about 5 years of adjuvant treatment with tamoxifen had a lower risk of recurrence in the 15 years after starting treatment than women who did not receive tamoxifen.

A nonanthracycline-containing chemotherapy regimen combined with the targeted therapy trastuzumab may be an option for some women with HER2-positive breast cancer, according to results from the Breast Cancer International Research Group 006 (BCIRG-006) trial reported October 6, 2011, in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Breast cancers that are discovered in the period between regular screening mammograms—known as interval cancers—are more likely to have features associated with aggressive behavior and a poor prognosis than cancers found via screening mammograms, according to research in the May 3, 2011, issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

Researchers have developed a benefit-risk index to help guide decisions on whether postmenopausal women at increased risk of developing breast cancer should take raloxifene or tamoxifen to reduce that risk.

Treatment with eribulin (Halaven™) improved overall survival in women with metastatic breast cancer whose disease progressed despite multiple rounds of prior chemotherapy, according to the results of a phase III clinical trial called EMBRACE.

In a large randomized clinical trial, women with early-stage breast cancer who received 5 years of adjuvant treatment with tamoxifen had better outcomes up to 15 years after the start of treatment than those who received 2 years of tamoxifen therapy.

Long-term follow-up data from the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) provide important new information about the potential risks and benefits of hormone therapy to treat symptoms or conditions related to menopause, including its effect on breast cancer risk, according to results published April 5, 2011, in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

According to a January 28, 2011 article in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, women who start taking menopausal hormone therapy around the time of menopause have a higher risk of breast cancer than women who begin taking hormones a few years later.

Treatment with trastuzumab for 1 year following standard chemotherapy improved disease-free survival in women with HER2-positive early breast cancer, according to 4-year follow-up results of the Herceptin Adjuvant (HERA) trial reported February 25, 2011, in Lancet Oncology.

Detailed examination of sentinel lymph node tissue from breast cancer patients revealed previously unidentified metastases in about 16% of the samples, but the difference in 5-year survival between patients with and without these metastases was very small and likely not clinically meaningful. The results were published in the February 3, 2011 New England Journal of Medicine.

Results from a randomized clinical trial published February 9, 2011, in the Journal of the American Medical Association demonstrate that axillary lymph node dissection provided no additional survival benefit when compared with sentinel lymph node biopsy in women with small breast tumors and minimal lymph node metastasis who were treated with lumpectomy, whole-breast radiotherapy, and adjuvant systemic therapy.