Publications by authors named "Norman Wolmark"

Background: Patients with human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-positive early breast cancer with residual invasive disease after neoadjuvant systemic therapy have a high risk of recurrence and death. The primary analysis of KATHERINE, a phase 3, open-label trial, showed that the risk of invasive breast cancer or death was 50% lower with adjuvant trastuzumab emtansine (T-DM1) than with trastuzumab alone.

Methods: We randomly assigned patients with HER2-positive early breast cancer with residual invasive disease in the breast or axilla after neoadjuvant systemic treatment with taxane-based chemotherapy and trastuzumab to receive T-DM1 or trastuzumab for 14 cycles.

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Background: NRG Oncology NSABP B-39/RTOG 0413 compared whole-breast irradiation (WBI) to accelerated partial-breast irradiation (APBI). APBI was not equivalent to WBI in local tumor control. Secondary outcome was quality of life (QOL).

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Purpose: The adjuvant treatment for stage III colon cancer (CC) is chemotherapy combining fluoropyrimidine (FP) and oxaliplatin (OX). FP regimen plus OX (FPOX) may benefit in high-risk stage II CC. We performed a pooled analysis of pivotal MOSAIC and C-07 studies evaluating FPOX for the treatment of high-risk stage II CC according to prognostic factors, number of high-risk factors, and current clinicopathologic risk classification on the basis of T stage, tumor perforation, and number of lymph nodes examined.

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We evaluated differences in long-term outcomes of invasive lobular carcinoma vs breast cancers of no special type treated with anthracycline-based adjuvant chemotherapy using 4 National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project randomized phase III trials (B-22, B-25, B-28, and B-30). Our cohort included 11 251 patients with no special type and 1231 with invasive lobular carcinoma. Patients with invasive lobular carcinoma were older, had larger and more frequently estrogen receptor-positive tumors, and more positive lymph nodes.

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Purpose: MammaPrint (MP) determines distant metastatic risk and may improve patient selection for extended endocrine therapy (EET). This study examined MP in predicting extended letrozole therapy (ELT) benefit in patients with early-stage breast cancer (BC) from the NSABP B-42 trial.

Patients And Methods: MP was tested in 1,866 patients randomly assigned to receive ELT or placebo.

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Article Synopsis
  • The 21-gene recurrence score (RS) test, called Oncotype DX, helps decide if breast cancer patients need chemotherapy.
  • Researchers studied over 10,000 women to see how well the RS works with other information like tumor size and patient age to predict cancer recurrence after treatment.
  • They found that combining the RS with other factors gives much better predictions about whether the cancer will come back, especially between 5 to 10 years after diagnosis.
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Background: We previously reported our phase Ib trial, testing the safety, tolerability, and efficacy of T-DM1 + neratinib in HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer patients. Patients with ERBB2 amplification in ctDNA had deeper and more durable responses. This study extends these observations with in-depth analysis of molecular markers and mechanisms of resistance in additional patients.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study examined the Breast Cancer Index (BCI) to predict benefits from extended endocrine therapy (EET) in hormone receptor-positive breast cancer patients participating in the NSABP B-42 trial.
  • A total of 2,178 patients were analyzed, finding minimal overall RFI benefit from extended letrozole therapy, with no significant interaction between BCI levels and treatment outcome.
  • However, after four years, patients with high BCI (H/I) showed significant benefits from EET, particularly in the HER2-negative subgroup, suggesting BCI's potential as a predictive marker for future studies.
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JCO The primary joint efficacy analysis of the Anthracyclines in Early Breast Cancer (ABC) trials reported in 2017 failed to demonstrate nonanthracycline adjuvant therapy was noninferior to anthracycline-based regimens in high-risk, early breast cancer. Full analyses of the studies had proceeded when the prespecified futility boundary was crossed at a planned futility analysis for the ability to demonstrate noninferiority of a nonanthracycline regimen with continued follow-up. These results were presented with 3.

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Purpose: A combination of fluorouracil, leucovorin, and oxaliplatin (FOLFOX) is the standard for adjuvant therapy of resected early-stage colon cancer (CC). Oxaliplatin leads to lasting and disabling neurotoxicity. Reserving the regimen for patients who benefit from oxaliplatin would maximize efficacy and minimize unnecessary adverse side effects.

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Article Synopsis
  • The 21-gene recurrence score (RS) assay assesses the risk of distant recurrence in women with estrogen receptor-positive, lymph node-negative breast cancer receiving tamoxifen treatment.
  • In a clinical trial, patients were grouped by their RS levels to evaluate the interaction between chemotherapy and RS, revealing significant findings.
  • Results showed that patients with high RS tumors greatly benefit from chemotherapy, while those with low RS tumors receive minimal benefits, indicating that RS can help predict not just recurrence risk but also chemotherapy effectiveness.
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Background: The cardiotoxic effects of doxorubicin, trastuzumab, and other anticancer agents are well known, but molecular genetic testing is lacking for the early identification of patients at risk for therapy-related cardiac toxicity.

Methods: Using the Agena Bioscience MassARRAY system, we genotyped rs77679196, rs62568637, rs55756123, rs707557, intergenic rs4305714, rs7698718, and rs1056892 (V244M) (previously associated with either doxorubicin or trastuzumab-related cardiotoxicity in the NCCTG N9831 trial of anthracycline-based chemotherapy ± trastuzumab) in 993 patients with HER2+ early breast cancer from the NSABP B-31 trial of adjuvant anthracycline-based chemotherapy ± trastuzumab. Association analyses were performed with outcomes of congestive heart failure ( = 29) and maximum decline in left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) using logistic and linear regression models, respectively, under an additive model with age, baseline LVEF, and previous use of hypertensive medications as covariates.

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Background: The National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project B-42 trial evaluated extended letrozole therapy (ELT) in postmenopausal breast cancer patients who were disease free after 5 years of aromatase inhibitor (AI)-based therapy. Seven-year results demonstrated a nonstatistically significant trend in disease-free survival (DFS) in favor of ELT. We present 10-year outcome results.

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Purpose: The achievement of pathologic complete response (pCR) is strongly prognostic for event-free survival (EFS) and overall survival (OS) in patients with early breast cancer (EBC), and adapting postneoadjuvant therapy improves long-term outcomes for patients with HER2-positive disease not achieving pCR. We sought to investigate prognostic factors for EFS and OS among patients with and without pCR after neoadjuvant systemic treatment consisting of chemotherapy plus anti-HER2 therapy.

Materials And Methods: We used individual data from 3,710 patients randomly assigned in 11 neoadjuvant trials for HER2-positive EBC with ≥100 patients enrolled, available data for pCR, EFS, and OS, and follow-up ≥3 years.

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Purpose: Pathologic complete response (pCR) has prognostic importance and is frequently used as a primary end point, but doubts remain about its validity as a surrogate for event-free survival (EFS) and overall survival (OS) in human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-positive, early breast cancer.

Methods: We obtained individual-patient data from randomized trials of neoadjuvant anti-HER2 therapy that enrolled at least 100 patients, had data for pCR, EFS, and OS, and a median follow-up of at least 3 years. We quantified the patient-level association between pCR (defined as ypT0/Tis ypN0) and both EFS and OS using odds ratios (ORs, with ORs >1.

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Background: The primary aim of this randomized neoadjuvant trial in operable, HER2-positive breast cancer, was to determine the efficacy on pathologic complete response (pCR) of substituting lapatinib (L) for trastuzumab (T) or adding L to T, in combination with weekly paclitaxel (WP) following AC. Results on pCR were previously reported. Here, we report data on planned secondary endpoints, recurrence-free interval (RFI) post-surgery, and overall survival (OS).

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Purpose: In KATHERINE, adjuvant T-DM1 reduced risk of disease recurrence or death by 50% compared with trastuzumab in patients with residual invasive breast cancer after neoadjuvant therapy (NAT) comprised of HER2-targeted therapy and chemotherapy. This analysis aimed to identify biomarkers of response and differences in biomarker expression before and after NAT.

Experimental Design: Exploratory analyses investigated the relationship between invasive disease-free survival (IDFS) and HER2 protein expression/gene amplification, PIK3CA hotspot mutations, and gene expression of HER2, PD-L1, CD8, predefined immune signatures, and Prediction Analysis of Microarray 50 intrinsic molecular subtypes, classified by Absolute Intrinsic Molecular Subtyping.

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Background: Mixed invasive ductal lobular carcinoma (mDLC) remains a poorly understood subtype of breast cancer composed of coexisting ductal and lobular components.

Methods: We sought to describe clinicopathologic characteristics and determine whether mDLC is clinically more similar to invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC) or invasive lobular carcinoma (ILC), using data from patients seen at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.

Results: We observed a higher concordance in clinicopathologic characteristics between mDLC and ILC, compared to IDC.

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Purpose: In the United States, the National Cancer Institute National Cancer Clinical Trials Network (NCTN) groups have conducted publicly funded oncology research for 50 years. The combined impact of all adult network group trials has never been systematically examined.

Methods: We identified randomized, phase III trials from the adult NCTN groups, reported from 1980 onward, with statistically significant findings for ≥ 1 clinical, time-dependent outcomes.

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Following chemotherapy and human epidermal growth factor 2 (HER2)-targeted neoadjuvant therapy for HER2-positive early breast cancer, residual invasive breast cancer at surgery may be HER2-negative on retesting in some patients. We evaluated outcomes with T-DM1 and trastuzumab in patients randomized in the phase III KATHERINE trial based on HER2-positive central testing of the pre-treatment core biopsy with HER2-negative central testing on their corresponding surgical specimen after neoadjuvant treatment. In the 70/845 (8.

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Background: Individualized estimates of the risk of recurrence in colon cancer patients are needed that reflect current medical practice and available treatment options.

Methods: Three validation studies of the 12-gene colon recurrence score assay were used with pre-specified patient-specific meta-analysis (PSMA) methods to integrate the 12-gene Oncotype DX Colon Recurrence Score result (RS) with the clinical and pathology risk factors stage, T-stage, mis-match repair (MMR) status, and number of nodes examined to calculate individualized recurrence risk estimates. Baseline risk estimation used the most recent studies, so the risk estimates reflect current medical practice.

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Article Synopsis
  • The NSABP B-36 trial compared the effectiveness of 6 cycles of epirubicin-based chemotherapy (FEC-100) to 4 cycles of doxorubicin-based chemotherapy (AC) in women with node-negative invasive breast cancer.
  • Results showed no significant improvement in disease-free survival (DFS) with FEC-100 over AC, despite higher toxicity reported in the FEC-100 group.
  • Additionally, the treatment's effectiveness varied by hormone receptor status, with FEC-100 performing better in receptor-positive patients, but overall, the findings do not support using prolonged anthracycline regimens for this patient group.
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