Breast Cancer

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Adding the oral cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK)4/CDK6 inhibitor abemaciclib (Verzenio) to endocrine therapy led to a significant reduction in the risk for invasive disease recurrence versus endocrine therapy alone in patients with high-risk hormone receptor (HR)-positive, HER2-negative early-stage breast cancer, according to findings from the phase 3 monarchE clinical trial. The results were presented at the 2020 European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) virtual meeting and were featured at the meeting press conference. Read Article ›

Initiating annual breast cancer screening at 40 years of age may reduce mortality rates in women, according to study results published August 12, 2020, in the journal The Lancet Oncology (Duffy SW, et al. Lancet Oncol. 2020;21:1165-1172). Starting earlier screening also did not result in overdiagnosis. Read Article ›

The results of an online questionnaire of 609 breast cancer survivors in the Unites States suggest that almost 50% experienced delays in care during the early weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic. The research was published online on August 9, 2020, in the journal Breast Cancer Research and Treatment (Papautsky EL, et al. Breast Cancer Res Treat. 2020 Aug 9. Epub ahead of print). Read Article ›

Early locoregional therapy with surgery and radiation does not improve overall survival (OS) in women with newly diagnosed stage IV breast cancer and an intact primary tumor compared with systemic therapy alone, according to the results of the randomized ECOG-ACRIN E2108 phase 3 clinical trial. The results were presented by lead investigator Seema A. Khan, MD, FACS, MPH, Co-Leader, Lynn Sage Comprehensive Breast Center, Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Chicago, IL, at the plenary session of the ASCO 2020 virtual annual meeting. Read Article ›

Pembrolizumab (Keytruda) in combination with chemotherapy demonstrated a statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvement in progression-free survival (PFS) compared with chemotherapy alone as a first-line treatment for patients with metastatic triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) whose tumors express PD-L1. Read Article ›

In patients with HER2+ breast cancer, those who achieved a pathologic complete response following HER2-directed (trastuzumab and/or pertuzumab) neoadjuvant therapy had an increased event-free survival probability compared with patients with residual disease. Read Article ›

In the largest retrospective analysis of US patients with ER+/HER2+ nonmetastatic breast cancer, there was no overall survival benefit of treating patients with hormone therapy + trastuzumab compared with hormone therapy alone, and patients treated without chemotherapy had a significantly worse overall survival. Read Article ›

IL6ST levels can differentiate ER+/HER2+ patients with breast cancer who respond well to endocrine therapy alone versus those with a poor clinical response who have a higher risk of recurrence, suggesting that there is a potential role for IL6ST in selecting ER+/HER2+ patients who require and benefit from HER2-targeted therapies. Read Article ›

All-cause healthcare utilization and costs among patients with metastatic breast cancer were highest for pharmacy costs and for those with metastasis to the central nervous system. Read Article ›