Hongchao Pan, PhD, on an Update on 5 Years of Endocrine Therapy for Early Breast Cancer
2019 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium
Hongchao Pan, PhD, of the University of Oxford, discusses an analysis of 86,000 women in the Early Breast Cancer Trialists’ Collaborative Group database, which showed that the risk of distant recurrence 20 years after a diagnosis of node-negative, estrogen receptor–negative early-stage breast cancer in women who discontinued endocrine therapy at 5 years is likely to be about a third lower now than in his group’s previous report (Abstract GS2-04).
Hope S. Rugo, MD, of the University of California San Francisco Comprehensive Cancer Center, discusses trial data on margetuximab plus chemotherapy, which improved progression-free survival in patients with previously treated HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer when compared with trastuzumab plus chemotherapy. Maturing data comparing overall survival also provides new insights (Abstract GS1-02).
Belinda Kingston, MB ChB, of the Institute of Cancer Research London, discusses next-generation sequencing results from the plasmaMATCH trial, including the incidence of gene alterations overall, as well as the associations with clinical and pathologic features that may help direct treatment decisions (Abstract GS3-07).
Terry P. Mamounas, MD, MPH, of Orlando Health UF Health Cancer Center, discusses 10-year results from NRG Oncology/NSABP B-42, which showed that, for postmenopausal women with hormone receptor–positive breast cancer who have completed previous adjuvant therapy with an aromatase inhibitor or with tamoxifen followed by an aromatase inhibitor, extended treatment with letrozole improved disease-free survival (Abstract GS4-01).
Rashmi K. Murthy, MD, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses data on the efficacy and safety of tucatinib, trastuzumab, and capecitabine, a treatment regimen under investigation for patients with advanced HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer refractory to standard-of-care regimens (Abstract GS1-01).
Joseph Sparano, MD, of the Montefiore Medical Center, discusses three challenges:
- How can gene-expression profiles and other diagnostic tests be used to guide the use of adjuvant systemic therapy?
- Is it time to reappraise active surveillance?
- Are there diagnostic and therapeutic strategies that can identify tumors at highest risk of metastasis, and novel therapies that can block the spread of disease?
