In young women with early-stage breast cancer, coupling the GnRH analogue triptorelin with chemotherapy led to a 17% reduction in the occurrence of early menopause, according to a report in the July 20 issue of JAMA.

The phase 3 study results showed:

Maintaining a healthy body weight is important for all patients. But, this is especially true for women with a breast cancer diagnosis, as an analysis of the California Teachers Study has shown a correlation between breast cancer deaths and body mass index (BMI).

Obesity (defined as BMI ≥30 kg/m²) increased a woman’s risk of dying of their breast cancer by 69%, compared with women with a BMI <25. For patients who were overweight at 18 years of age (defined as BMI 25-29), a similar increased risk in breast cancer mortality was detected.

Short-term androgen-deprivation therapy (ADT) for 4 months before and during radiotherapy increases overall survival rates and decreases disease-specific mortality rates in men with intermediate-risk prostate cancer, according to an interventional phase 3 study.

The combination of everolimus and trastuzumab shows promise against metastatic breast cancer in pretreated, HER2-positive patients with trastuzumab resistance, according to results of a phase 1/2 study. This targeted, nonchemotherapy regimen provided partial responses in 7 of 47 patients and persistent stable disease (lasting 6 months or longer) in 9 of 47 patients. The regimen produced a clinical benefit rate of 34%, and median progression-free survival was 4.1 month.

After 2 days of hearings, the Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee (ODAC) confirmed the US Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) earlier decision to remove bevacizumab’s (Avastin, Genentech) indication in combination with paclitaxel chemotherapy for previously untreated (first-line) HER2-negative metastatic breast cancer.

Read More ›

Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women. In 2010, there were an estimated 207,090 new cases and 39,840 deaths.¹ Despite many improvements in the treatment of breast cancer, about 20% to 30% of women with the disease will progress to metastatic breast cancer (MBC). Although MBC remains incurable, a variety of treatment options are available. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently approved eribulin (Halaven), providing an exciting new option for women with heavily pretreated MBC.

Poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) are a group of enzymes that are essential for base excision repair.¹ There are several members of the PARP family, of which PARP1 is the most extensively studied.^1,2 PARP1 only detects single-stranded DNA breaks and initiates repair; without PARP1, a single-stranded break is converted into a double-stranded break and repaired by homologous repair.¹ PARP inhibition shows promise in BRCA1/2- deficient tumors, which lack homologous repair capability, causing synthetic lethality (decrease in repair of both single- and double-st Read More ›

Data published in the Journal of the American Medical As sociation in March indicate that for 20% of women with early-stage breast cancer, removing malignant lymph nodes from the armpit does not improve survival or prevent recurrence. Women in the phase 3 trial who underwent complete axillary lymph node dissection (ALND) had higher rates of lymphedema than those who had sentinel lymph node dissection (SLND) alone (P <.001). They also had higher rates of wound infection, axillary seromas, and paresthesias (70% vs 25%, respectively; P <.001).