Emergence of immune-related adverse events correlates with pathological complete response in patients receiving pembrolizumab for early triple-negative breast cancer.

Based upon results of the KEYNOTE-522 trial and following approval by regulatory authorities, the addition of pembrolizumab to chemotherapy is now the standard-of-care for the treatment of early triple-negative breast cancer (eTNBC) (Clinical stage II-III). Pembrolizumab is a programmed cell death protein 1 monoclonal antibody, known to cause immune-related adverse events (irAEs) in a significant subset of patients. Real-world data on incidence, type and treatment strategies of irAEs in the setting of eTNBC treatment are sparse.

Austrian treatment algorithms in HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer: a 2022 update.

In the past 12 months a plethora of relevant novel data for the treatment of metastatic HER2 positive breast cancer were published. To bring this new evidence into a clinical perspective, a group of Austrian breast cancer specialists updated their previously published treatment algorithm for those patients. For this consensus paper a total of eight scenarios were developed in which treatment strategies appropriate for specific patient profiles were evaluated.

Breast cancer in Colombia: a growing challenge for the healthcare system.

Aim: To provide a comprehensive overview of breast cancer in Colombia.

Methods: Data on breast cancer in Colombia are scarce. We present incidence data from population-based cancer registries that represent 4 distinct regions of the country.

Effects of Celecoxib and Low-dose Aspirin on Outcomes in Adjuvant Aromatase Inhibitor-Treated Patients: CCTG MA.27.

Background: Celecoxib and low-dose aspirin might decrease risk of breast cancer recurrence.

Methods: In the Canadian Cancer Trials Group MA.27, postmenopausal hormone receptor-positive breast cancer patients were randomly assigned (2 × 2) to adjuvant exemestane or anastrozole, and celecoxib or placebo.

Quality of Life From Canadian Cancer Trials Group MA.17R: A Randomized Trial of Extending Adjuvant Letrozole to 10 Years.

Purpose MA.17R was a Canadian Cancer Trials Group-led phase III randomized controlled trial comparing letrozole to placebo after 5 years of aromatase inhibitor as adjuvant therapy for hormone receptor-positive breast cancer. Quality of life (QOL) was a secondary outcome measure of the study, and here, we report the results of these analyses.

Barriers to Primary Debulking Surgery for Advanced Ovarian Cancer in Latin America.

Ovarian cancer is gynecologic tumor with particularly high mortality because it is usually diagnosed in advanced stages. In Latin America and the Caribbean, it is the eighth most common malignancy in women, with an estimated 18,000 new cases and 11,500 deaths annually. Standard of care for women diagnosed with advanced ovarian cancer (AOC) is primary cytoreductive surgery followed by systemic chemotherapy using a combination of paclitaxel plus carboplatin.

Epidemiology and pathophysiology of pregnancy-associated breast cancer: A review.

The interactions between pregnancy and breast cancer (BC) are complex. Overall, parity is associated with long-term protective effects against BC, however in a small group of susceptible patients, pregnancy can lead to the development of a form of BC with a particularly poor prognosis. Pregnancy-associated breast cancer (PABC) remains an under-studied but important and growing clinical problem worldwide.

Improving access to high-cost cancer drugs in Latin America: Much to be done.

Lack of access to high-cost medications is a complex issue at the intersection of economics, medicine, politics, and ethics, and it poses a significant threat to global health care. The problem is even more significant in low- and middle-income countries, such as those in Latin America, where governments and individuals struggle to pay for products that are priced at several times the level of their per capita gross domestic product. In this review, we examine the determinants for increasing drug costs and how Latin American countries face this burgeoning crisis.

Current and emerging therapies of HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer.

The HER2 receptor as measured by immunohistochemistry (IHC) and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) is overexpressed in 15-20% of all breast cancers and traditionally represents adverse biology and a guarded prognosis, particularly in HER2 positive metastatic breast cancer (MBC). Trastuzumab and newer anti-HER2 targeting agents have significantly improved the clinical outcomes of patients with HER2 positive MBC. The development of new techniques has led to discovery of promising biomarkers that can lead to more precise selection of patients for anti-HER2 therapies.

Extending Aromatase-Inhibitor Adjuvant Therapy to 10 Years.

Background: Treatment with an aromatase inhibitor for 5 years as up-front monotherapy or after tamoxifen therapy is the treatment of choice for hormone-receptor-positive early breast cancer in postmenopausal women. Extending treatment with an aromatase inhibitor to 10 years may further reduce the risk of breast-cancer recurrence.

Methods: We conducted a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial to assess the effect of the extended use of letrozole for an additional 5 years.

Current Status and Future Projections of Breast Cancer in Asia.

Asia is the world's largest continent comprising about 3/5 of the human population. Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer and the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths among women in Asia, accounting for 39% of all breast cancers diagnosed worldwide. The incidence of breast cancer in Asia varies widely across the continent and is still lower than in Western countries, but the proportional contribution of Asia to the global breast cancer rates is increasing rapidly in parallel to the socioeconomic development.

Identification of early breast cancer patient cohorts who may benefit from lapatinib therapy.

In resource-constrained environments many patients with human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)+ early breast cancer are currently not offered adjuvant anti-HER2 therapy. For patients who might be able to receive the tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) lapatinib (e.g.

Cervical cancer control in Latin America: A call to action.

Cervical cancer (CC) is second most common cause of cancer in Latin America and is a leading cause of cancer mortality among women. In 2015, an estimated 74,488 women will be diagnosed with CC in Latin America and 31,303 will die of the disease. CC mortality is projected to increase by 45% by 2030 despite human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination and screening efforts.

Progress and remaining challenges for cancer control in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Cancer is one of the leading causes of mortality worldwide, and an increasing threat in low-income and middle-income countries. Our findings in the 2013 Commission in The Lancet Oncology showed several discrepancies between the cancer landscape in Latin America and more developed countries. We reported that funding for health care was a small percentage of national gross domestic product and the percentage of health-care funds diverted to cancer care was even lower.

Prolactin and breast cancer: The need to avoid undertreatment of serious psychiatric illnesses in breast cancer patients: A review.

Hyperprolactinemia, defined as a sustained elevation of prolactin (PRL) levels greater than 530 mIU/L in women and greater than 424 mIU/L in men, has been implicated for a long time in breast cancer etiology and prognosis. Elevated PRL values (approximately 2-3 times higher than the reference values) are a common adverse effect of antipsychotic medications, especially with first-generation drugs, and most antipsychotics carry a standard warning regarding PRL elevations on their US product labels. These associations foster undertreatment of serious psychiatric illnesses in both otherwise healthy patients and cancer patients.

Long-term hazard of recurrence in HER2+ breast cancer patients untreated with anti-HER2 therapy.

Introduction: Worldwide, many patients with HER2+ (human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-positive) early breast cancer (BC) do not receive adjuvant trastuzumab. Hazards of recurrence of these patients with respect to hormone receptor status of the primary tumor have not been described.

Methods: Using data from 1,260 patients randomized to placebo in the adjuvant TEACH trial, we report 10-year annual hazards of recurrence in HER2+ patients not treated with anti-HER2 therapy.

Pregnancy-associated breast cancer in women from Shanghai: risk and prognosis.

Breast cancer (BC) has been associated with pregnancy if diagnosed within 5-10 years after delivery (pregnancy-associated BC, PABC). PABC carries a poor prognosis compared to sporadic BC in Western populations. Data are limited regarding PABC in Asian populations, where longer periods of breastfeeding, higher birth rates and a lower median age of BC at diagnosis have been noted, all of which are known to influence prognosis.

Breast cancer in China.

The health burden of cancer is increasing in China, with more than 1·6 million people being diagnosed and 1·2 million people dying of the disease each year. As in most other countries, breast cancer is now the most common cancer in Chinese women; cases in China account for 12·2% of all newly diagnosed breast cancers and 9·6% of all deaths from breast cancer worldwide. China's proportional contribution to global rates is increasing rapidly because of the population's rising socioeconomic status and unique reproductive patterns.

Challenges to effective cancer control in China, India, and Russia.

Cancer is one of the major non-communicable diseases posing a threat to world health. Unfortunately, improvements in socioeconomic conditions are usually associated with increased cancer incidence. In this Commission, we focus on China, India, and Russia, which share rapidly rising cancer incidence and have cancer mortality rates that are nearly twice as high as in the UK or the USA, vast geographies, growing economies, ageing populations, increasingly westernised lifestyles, relatively disenfranchised subpopulations, serious contamination of the environment, and uncontrolled cancer-causing communicable infections.

Ferritin as prognostic marker in multiple myeloma patients undergoing autologous transplantation.

Serum ferritin reflects body iron stores, but this correlation is dissociated in inflammation. Ferritin has been shown to be prognostically relevant in breast cancer and in patients with hematologic malignancies undergoing autologous or allogeneic stem cell transplantation. In the present study, we evaluated the prognostic relevance of pretransplant ferritin levels in 137 patients with myeloma (median age: 56 years) subjected to autologous stem cell transplantation in our institution between 1994 and 2010.

Suitable trial designs and cohorts for preventive breast cancer agents.

Effective chemoprevention of oestrogen receptor (ER)-positive breast cancer has been shown convincingly using several selective ER modulators and the aromatase inhibitor exemestane. Although these agents are well tolerated and the numbers needed-to-treat in the prevention setting are similar to other established preventive interventions, uptake has been poor in clinical practice because of difficulties in visualizing risk, predicting individual outcomes and measuring treatment benefit. In addition, new agents targeting ER-negative breast cancer are urgently needed.

Extended adjuvant endocrine therapy in hormone-receptor positive breast cancer.

A high ongoing recurrence rate in patients with endocrine responsive breast cancer provides the rationale for offering endocrine treatment for more than five years. The MA.17 study, comparing the aromatase inhibitor (AI) letrozole for five years after an initial five years of tamoxifen to no further treatment, provided the proof-of-principle for extended endocrine treatment.

Competing risks in low-risk breast cancer.

In recent years a growing amount of data on prognostic features of breast cancer has allowed for identification of tumors with a very low risk of recurrence. Markers used to predict the risk of distant spread include classic clinicopathologic features as well as newer tumor gene signatures, which have been validated and are being used in cohorts of patients with breast cancer patients who have low-risk disease. However, the definition of "low-risk" breast cancer requires consideration of patient-related factors such as comorbidities and age in addition to tumor characteristics, as high competing risks for mortality might be more important than cancer recurrence from a patient's point of view.

Planning cancer control in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Non-communicable diseases, including cancer, are overtaking infectious disease as the leading health-care threat in middle-income and low-income countries. Latin American and Caribbean countries are struggling to respond to increasing morbidity and death from advanced disease. Health ministries and health-care systems in these countries face many challenges caring for patients with advanced cancer: inadequate funding; inequitable distribution of resources and services; inadequate numbers, training, and distribution of health-care personnel and equipment; lack of adequate care for many populations based on socioeconomic, geographic, ethnic, and other factors; and current systems geared toward the needs of wealthy, urban minorities at a cost to the entire population.