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Investigators have found that two common types of hormone therapy may alter breast cancer risk in women before age 55. Women treated with unopposed estrogen hormone therapy (E-HT) were less likely to develop the disease than those who did not use this type of hormone therapy. Additionally, women...
Panoramic photoacoustic computed tomography (PACT) with machine learning assistance could be a safe, noninvasive, and sensitive alternative to mammography, ultrasound, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for breast cancer screening, according to study results that were published in Nature...
Erika Hamilton, MD, Director, Breast Cancer Research at Sarah Cannon Research Institute, provides a look at “where we stand in 2025” in the field of oral selective estrogen receptor degraders (SERDs) for patients with estrogen receptor–positive, HER2-negative breast cancer. She discusses the first and only FDA-approved oral SERD, elacestrant, indicated for use after CDK4/6 inhibitor therapy in patients with ESR1 mutations; reviews agents still being tested in clinical trials, such as imlunestrant and camizestrant; and highlights the role of oral SERDs as both monotherapies and in novel combinations. As Dr. Hamilton explains, “there haven’t been novel endocrine backbones [for these patients] since fulvestrant.”
As reported in The Lancet Oncology by Kirby et al, 10-year follow-up of the phase III UK IMPORT LOW trial has shown that partial-breast and reduced-dose radiotherapy continue to be associated with similar ipsilateral breast tumor recurrence (IBTR) outcomes compared with whole-breast radiotherapy...
Breast cancer survivors may have a slightly lower risk of developing Alzheimer dementia compared with cancer-free individuals, according to the results of a study published by Jeong et al in JAMA Network Open. “The risk of Alzheimer dementia is a crucial aspect of overall well-being among breast...
Providing a brief, 90-day course of preoperative endocrine therapy to older women with early-stage, estrogen receptor–positive, invasive breast cancer may significantly alter both patient preferences and physician recommendations regarding adjuvant radiation therapy, according to data presented...
Based on the findings of the VERITAC-2 trial, treatment with the selective PROTAC (proteolysis targeting chimera) estrogen receptor degrader vepdegestrant yielded statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvement in progression-free survival in patients with ESR1-mutant, estrogen...
ASCO has released a clinical practice guideline update on the role of sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) in early-stage breast cancer.1 The update includes recommendations based on findings from trials released after the published guideline in 2017, including data from nine randomized trials...
This is Part 1 of The Role of Oral SERDs in Metastatic Breast Cancer, a three-part video roundtable series. Scroll down to watch the other videos from this roundtable. In this video, Drs. Komal Jhaveri, Erika Hamilton, and Aditya Bardia discuss the treatment of a 61-year-old female patient who presents with bone pain 18 months after completion of adjuvant aromatase inhibitor therapy for an enlarged, suspicious axillary lymph node. A computed tomography scan shows numerous liver and bone metastases, and a liver biopsy confirms estrogen receptor–positive, progesterone receptor–negative, HER2-negative carcinoma consistent with breast primary. Circulating tumor DNA testing reveals an ESR1 Y537S mutation, and she has no BRCA1/2 mutations. The patient has a history of ventricular tachycardia and bipolar disorder, both controlled with medications known to cause QTc prolongation. In the conversation that follows, the faculty review first-line treatment options for this patient with ESR1 Y537S–mutated metastatic breast cancer, including selective estrogen receptor degraders (SERDs) both alone and in combination with CDK4/6 inhibitors, as well as the impact of her comorbidities on treatment selection. They also review the recent results of SERENA-6 and discuss whether they would be applicable to this patient.
Early detection of an ESR1 mutation, leading to a switch of endocrine therapy, led to an almost doubling in progression-free survival in the SERENA-6 trial, the global registrational study in patients with metastatic breast cancer for the investigational oral selective estrogen receptor degrader...
In the phase III DESTINY-Breast09 trial, first-line treatment with the antibody-drug conjugate fam-trastuzumab deruxtecan-nxki (T-DXd) plus the monoclonal antibody pertuzumab significantly delayed disease progression by more than 1 year—nearly doubling the time of disease control—over standard...
In a phase III Japanese trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Saito et al examined the efficacy of adding 5 mg of olanzapine to triplet antiemetic therapy in controlling chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting in the overall phase when given after receipt of anthracycline-cyclophosphamide...
A healthy gut microbiome prior to chemotherapy could help protect against cardiotoxicity as a result of breast cancer therapy, according to new findings presented by Antoniades et al at the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) Cardio-Oncology 2025 annual conference. Background Cardiotoxicity is a...
Whether a patient’s breast cancer was detected through symptoms or routine screening mammography significantly affected their risk for advanced disease or death, according to a study published recently in Radiology: Imaging Cancer. Patients with symptom-detected breast cancer had higher odds of...
This is Part 3 of Novel Therapies for HER2-Positive Breast Cancer Brain Metastases, a three-part video roundtable series. Scroll down to watch the other videos from this roundtable. In this video, Drs. Carey Anders, Rani Bansal, and Sarah Sammons discuss the treatment of a patient with a history of ER/PR-negative, HER2-positive de novo metastatic breast cancer to the liver and brain. The 39-year-old patient initially responded well to systemic therapy and localized brain treatments but later developed symptomatic HER2-positive leptomeningeal disease (LMD), confirmed by brain MRI and lumbar puncture. In the conversation that follows, the faculty review effective systemic therapies like trastuzumab deruxtecan and the HER2CLIMB regimen of tucatinib, capecitabine, and trastuzumab. They discuss current approaches to LMD, including radiation therapy (with considerations for proton-based strategies to preserve cognitive function) and emphasize the crucial role of early palliative care for symptom management and support when dealing with LMD.
A common germline variant in the proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 (PCSK9) (rs562556, V474I) gene rather than a mutation in a breast cancer tumor may be the driving force in significantly increasing the risk of breast cancer metastasis and reducing survival in women with the disease....
This is Part 1 of Novel Therapies for HER2-Positive Breast Cancer Brain Metastases, a three-part video roundtable series. Scroll down to watch the other videos from this roundtable. In this video, Drs. Carey Anders, Rani Bansal, and Sarah Sammons discuss the treatment of a patient with a cT2N1, grade 3, ER/PR/HER2-positive invasive ductal carcinoma. The 35-year-old female patient is premenopausal and achieved a pathologic complete response (pCR) after standard neoadjuvant chemotherapy, lumpectomy, and radiation. She began 1 year of ovarian suppression, aromatase inhibitor, and trastuzumab plus pertuzumab, but in the final month of her adjuvant treatment, she developed dizziness and nausea. Despite pCR, patients with HER2-positive localized breast cancer face a higher risk of intracranial recurrence (approximately 10%–12%), often without extracranial disease. In the conversation that follows, the faculty review treatment considerations for this patient—including when to consider neurosurgical resection, focused radiation therapy, or other systemic therapies—and discuss ongoing trials seeking to potentially prevent intracranial recurrence in patients with residual disease, such as CompassHER2 RD.
In a phase III trial (NSABP B-51–RTOG 1304) reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Mamounas et al examined regional nodal irradiation for activity in preventing invasive breast cancer recurrence or death from breast cancer in patients who had negative axillary nodes after neoadjuvant...
In this installment of The ASCO Post’s Living a Full Life series, Guest Editor Jame Abraham, MD, FACP, spoke with Stephen R. Grobmyer, MD, FACS, about his clinical and research career in oncology, the challenges and rewards of moving to Abu Dhabi and building a state-of-the-art cancer center, and...
The risk of developing breast implant–associated anaplastic large-cell lymphoma (ALCL) could be higher among women with breast cancer and BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutations who received textured breast implants as part of their postmastectomy reconstructive surgery compared with patients lacking the genetic...
Erika Hamilton, MD, Director, Breast Cancer Research at Sarah Cannon Research Institute, reviews data from the global, randomized, phase III VERITAC-2 study, which compared vepdegestrant, an oral PROTAC (PROteolysis TArgeting Chimera) estrogen receptor degrader, to fulvestrant among patients with ER-positive HER2-negative advanced breast cancer. Vepdegestrant is the first PROTAC to be evaluated in a phase III trial (Abstract LBA1000).
In a phase III trial (OASIS-4) reported at the 2025 ASCO Annual Meeting and in The New England Journal of Medicine, Cardoso et al attempted to determine whether the neurokinin-targeted therapy elinzanetant reduced the risk of vasomotor symptoms from endocrine therapy for patients with hormone...
The disparities in breast cancer incidence and mortality rates between Black and White women in the United States have been well documented. Studies over the past decade consistently show that although Black women have a 4% lower breast cancer incidence rate than White women, they are still between ...
With the approval of HER2-targeted antibody-drug conjugate options for treating patients with breast cancer across different HER2 expression levels, accurate assessment of HER2 expression has become more important than ever. And a recent study may provide a solution to the challenge of accurate...
“Inavolisib plus palbociclib and fulvestrant significantly improved overall survival compared with placebo plus palbociclib/fulvestrant…. This is the first time overall survival has been significantly improved by a PI3K pathway–targeted drug,” said Nicholas Turner, MD, PhD, FRCP,FMedSci, who...
In a long-term follow-up of an Israeli phase II trial reported in a research letter in JAMA Oncology, Evron et al compared prophylactic radiation therapy (RT) of the contralateral breast vs surveillance in BRCA pathogenic variant carriers with early-stage breast cancer. Study Details In the...
Patients with breast cancer receiving radiation therapy demonstrated moderate changes in their cardiac function over a period of several years, and patients who received a maximum left anterior descending artery dose had a modest worsening in both systolic and diastolic function, according to the...
Hope S. Rugo, MD, FASCO, of City of Hope, and Rebecca Alexandra Dent, MD, FASCO, of National Cancer Centre Singapore, review the results of a biomarker analysis of the DESTINY-Breast06 trial, which evaluated trastuzumab deruxtecan after endocrine therapy in patients with metastatic breast cancer (Abstract 1013). They also discuss findings from the SERENA-6 and EMBER-3 trials, also presented at ASCO 2025, and what all this new data means for the sequencing of endocrine therapy in patients with breast cancer.
Neil M. Iyengar, MD, of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, reviews several studies that aimed to answer two questions: does menopausal hormone therapy (HRT) impact overall survival and breast cancer–specific mortality in younger women diagnosed with high-risk disease (Abstract 10506); and do GLP-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1 RAs), a class of weight-loss medications, have cancer risk reduction properties (Abstracts 10507 and 10508).
Patients with stage II and III (early-stage) HER2-positive breast cancer usually undergo preoperative therapy with multiagent chemotherapy in combination with anti-HER2 antibodies, followed by surgery. A less intensive, reduced-chemotherapy treatment approach is currently being evaluated in the...
A drug already approved by the FDA to treat menopause symptoms may also help to prevent invasive breast cancer, according to recent findings from a clinical trial led by Northwestern Medicine. The research was presented at the 2025 ASCO Annual Meeting (Abstract 512). Study Details The multicenter,...
Results from the phase III DESTINY-Breast09 clinical trial found that the combination of fam-trastuzumab deruxtecan-nxki (T-DXd) with pertuzumab may delay cancer growth for longer than the current standard of care in people with HER2-positive locally advanced or metastatic breast cancer. The...
Stephen K.L. Chia, MD, FRCPC, of BC Cancer Agency, reviews data from the phase III CCTG/BCT MA.40/FINER trial of fulvestrant and ipatasertib for advanced HER2-negative, ER-positive breast cancer following disease progression on first-line CDK 4/6 and aromatase inhibitors (LBA1005).
Karen Eubanks Jackson, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Sisters Network Inc. and recipient of the 2025 ASCO Patient Advocate Award, discusses her 30-year-long effort to support patients with breast cancer in the Black community. Sisters Network is focused on raising awareness of early screening for breast cancer, providing financial assistance, and addressing the disparities Black women face in breast cancer care and outcomes.
Sara M. Tolaney, MD, MPH, FASCO, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School, discusses findings from the phase III ASCENT-04/KEYNOTE-D19 study, which compared sacituzumab govitecan-hziy plus pembrolizumab vs chemotherapy plus pembrolizumab in previously untreated patients with PD-L1–positive advanced triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) (LBA109).
Mafalda Oliveira, MD, PhD, of Vall d’Hebron University Hospital and Vall d’Hebron Institute of Oncology, discusses findings on the incidence and management of hyperglycemia in a subset of patients with prediabetes and/or obesity included in the phase I trial of inavolisib alone and in combination with endocrine therapy with or without palbociclib for PIK3CA-mutated, hormone receptor–positive, HER2-negative locally advanced/metastatic breast cancer (Abstract 1004).
Switching to treatment with camizestrant if an ESR1 mutation is detected during first-line treatment can help slow cancer growth for patients with hormone receptor (HR)-positive, HER2-negative advanced breast cancer, according to findings from the phase III SERENA-6 clinical trial. The research is...
Nicholas C. Turner, MD, PhD, of the Royal Marsden Hospital, presents findings from the phase III, double-blind ctDNA-guided SERENA-6 trial, which evaluated the combination of camizestrant plus a CDK4/6 inhibitor to treat emergent ESR1 mutations during first-line endocrine therapy for patients with HR-positive, HER2-negative advanced breast cancer (LBA4).
Nicholas C. Turner, MD, PhD, of the Royal Marsden Hospital, presents final overall survival data from the INAVO120 trial of inavolisib/placebo plus palbociclib and fulvestrant in patients with PIK3CA-mutated, HR-positive, HER2-negative, endocrine-resistant advanced breast cancer (Abstract 1003).
Giuseppe Curigliano, MD, PhD, of Istituto Europeo di Oncologia, IRCCS, University of Milano, discusses patient-reported outcomes from the phase III EMBER-3 trial, which investigated treatment with imlunestrant, investigator’s choice of standard endocrine therapy, or imlunestrant plus abemaciclib in patients with ER-positive, HER2-negative advanced breast cancer (Abstract 1001).
Results from an international phase III clinical trial show that treatment with sacituzumab govitecan-hziy and pembrolizumab helps patients with unresectable, locally advanced or metastatic PD-L1–positive triple-negative breast cancer live longer without disease progression compared with...
Results from VERITAC-2 trial showed that the proteolysis-targeting chimera (PROTAC) vepdegestrant could extend progression-free survival for people with previously treated estrogen receptor (ER)-positive, HER2-negative advanced breast cancer with an ESR1 mutation. The research will be presented at...
Climate change may be contributing to a small but notable increase in the incidence and mortality rates of breast, ovarian, endometrial, and cervical cancers in the Middle East and North Africa, according to a recent study published by Mataria and Chun in Frontiers in Public Health. Background...
In a Danish Breast Cancer Group nationwide prospective cohort study reported in The Lancet Oncology, Jensen et al attempted to develop a prognostic standard mortality rate index to predict excess mortality based on risk-adapted adjuvant therapy in postmenopausal patients with early-stage breast...
New findings from the phase III INAVO120 trial showed that adding inavolisib to palbociclib and fulvestrant may help extend survival and delay the time until treatment with chemotherapy in previously treated patients with PIK3CA-mutated, HR-positive, HER2-negative advanced breast cancer. The...
The accuracy of HER2 breast cancer scoring improved with the use of AI assistance, especially for patients with low and ultralow levels of HER2 expression, results from a multinational study showed. The findings were presented in a press briefing ahead of the 2025 ASCO Annual Meeting (Abstract...
Abbreviated breast MRI scans demonstrated comparable diagnostic accuracy to full multiparametric protocol MRI scans for women with extremely dense breasts, according to findings from the DENSE trial published in Radiology. MRI scans have greater diagnostic accuracy than mammograms for women with...
In an international cohort study reported in The Lancet Oncology, Blondeaux et al evaluated whether both risk-reducing mastectomy and risk-reducing salpingo-oophorectomy were associated with improved survival among women aged 40 or younger who have invasive breast cancer with germline BRCA1/2...
Investigators have identified two genetic risk loci that may be associated with an increased risk of breast cancer for Black South African women, according to findings from a genome-wide association study published in Nature Communications. The two risk loci were between UNC13C and RAB27A on...
Investigators from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) identified changes in stromal breast tissue, called stromal disruption, that may help to identify women with a higher risk of developing breast cancer, according to study findings published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Women ...