Breast Cancer

In this real-world retrospective study, more patients in the ribociclib cohort compared with palbociclib and abemaciclib maintained starting doses and fewer patients decreased to 50% of the starting dose. Read More ›

Real-world data showed that patients with metastatic breast cancer receiving palbociclib had a numerically higher rate of neutropenia than patients receiving ribociclib. Read More ›

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 More ›

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 More ›

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 More ›

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 More ›

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 More ›

The past week in oncology-related news includes shortages of crucial pediatric cancer drug, results of a study of racial disparities in multiple myeloma, and new drug on the horizon for HER2 metastatic breast cancer. Read More ›

The addition of the cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK)4/CDK6 inhibitor ribociclib to standard endocrine therapy significantly extended overall survival (OS) compared with endocrine therapy alone in premenopausal women with hormone receptor (HR)-positive, HER2-negative advanced breast cancer, according to results of the phase 3 MONALEESA-7 clinical trial, presented at the 2019 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting. Read More ›

Two human genes, BRCA1 and BRCA2 (BRCA1/2), produce proteins that block the growth of cancer, such as breast or ovarian cancer. These proteins ensure the stability of each cell’s genetic material and help to repair damaged DNA. A mutation in either BRCA results in these proteins not functioning correctly. Specifically, DNA damage may not be repaired effectively, which can lead to cancer. Read More ›