In this section of the BJMO, we provide a snapshot of pivotal studies published in recent issues of the most important international journals focusing on oncology. Importantly, the selection of the studies discussed here was made by Prof. An Hendrix (Laboratory of Experimental Cancer Research and Laboratory of Experiment Cancer Research, University of Ghent and Founder and President of the Belgian Society for Extracellular Vesicles), based on the added value of the studies in daily clinical practice.
MULTI-OMIC MACHINE LEARNING CAN PREDICT THERAPY RESPONSE IN BREAST CANCER
Tumour ecosystems are increasingly recognised as major determinants of treatment response in breast cancer patients. A novel study now used an ensemble machine learning approach to integrate multi-omic features from pre-treatment cancer biopsies to derive predictors for pathological complete response (pCR). The models were externally validated, demonstrating very good discrimination power and may be used to determine therapy choice in future clinical trials… Read more
PYROTINIB PLUS CAPECITABINE FOR PATIENTS WITH HER2-POSITIVE BREAST CANCER AND BRAIN METASTASES
Patients with HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer have a high risk of developing brain metastases. Unfortunately, efficacious treatment options are scarce. PERMEATE is the first prospective study demonstrating promising antitumour activity and safety of pyrotinib plus capecitabine in patients with HER2-positive breast cancer and brain metastases, especially in those with radiotherapy-naïve brain metastases… Read more
REPLACING ADJUVANT TAXANE AND TRASTUZUMAB WITH T-DM1 NOT BENEFICIAL IN HIGH-RISK HER2-POSITIVE EARLY BREAST CANCER
Current treatment options for high-risk HER2–positive early breast cancer have limitations in terms of efficacy and tolerability. The KAITLIN trial assessed whether trastuzumab emtansine (T-DM1) could provide a better alternative to taxane-plus-trastuzumab in this setting. Unfortunately, this novel approach did not yield a clinically meaningful improvement in efficacy. Consequently, trastuzumab plus pertuzumab plus chemotherapy remains the standard of care in this patient population... Read more
PEMBROLIZUMAB IMPROVES EVENT-FREE SURVIVAL IN PATIENTS WITH TRIPLE-NEGATIVE BREAST CANCER
Keynote-522 is a phase III trial in patients with early triple-negative breast cancer. Previous results demonstrated that adding pembrolizumab to neoadjuvant chemotherapy resulted in a higher percentage of patients having a pathological complete response. With longer follow-up, neoadjuvant pembrolizumab plus chemotherapy, followed by adjuvant pembrolizumab after surgery, also resulted in significantly longer event-free survival than neoadjuvant chemotherapy alone… Read more
BALANCING THE RISKS AND BENEFITS OF ADJUVANT SYSTEMIC TREATMENTS IN LOW-RISK ER+/HER2- BREAST CANCER
As adjuvant systemic treatments (AST) reduce mortality but increase toxicities in breast cancer patients, a careful selection of patients likely to benefit from AST is needed. A subgroup analysis of patients included in the MINDACT trial evaluated the outcomes of stage I low-risk breast cancer patients who received no AST. Although the effect of endocrine therapy (ET) on distant metastasis-free interval was limited, overall significantly fewer breast cancer events were observed in patients who received ET… Read more
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