Oral selective estrogen receptor degraders for breast cancer treatment: focus on pharmacological differences.

Purpose: The management of hormone receptor-positive (HR +) breast cancer (BC) relies on endocrine therapy (ET), with a primary focus on disrupting estrogen receptor (ER) signaling due to its critical role in BC tumorigenesis and progression. While effective for both early-stage and advanced breast cancers, ET frequently encounters resistance mechanisms, including both ligand-dependent and ligand-independent trajectories, ultimately leading to disease progression.

Methods: We searched PubMed, EMBASE and Scopus databases to review the current evidence on the use of novel oral selective estrogen receptor degraders (SERDs) for the treatment of HR+ BC.

The Safety and Suitability of DNA Sequencing of Tissue Biopsies Performed on Patients Referred to a Phase I Unit.

Background: Early-phase clinical trials offer a unique opportunity for patients with cancer. These trials often mandate biopsies to collect tumor tissue for research purposes, requiring patients to undergo invasive procedures. Some trials mandate molecular prescreening, but the success of these analyses relies on the quality and quantity of the tested materials.

Clinical impact of drug-drug interactions on abemaciclib in the real-world experience of AB-ITALY study.

Abemaciclib demonstrated clinical benefit in women affected by HR+/HER2- advanced breast cancer (aBC). Drug-drug interactions (DDIs) can lead to reduced treatment efficacy or increased toxicity. This retro-prospective study aimed to evaluate outcomes, DDIs' impact, and toxicities of abemaciclib combined with endocrine therapy in a real-world setting.

Neoadjuvant therapy in hormone Receptor-Positive/HER2-Negative breast cancer.

Neoadjuvant therapy is commonly used in patients with locally advanced or inoperable breast cancer (BC). Neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) represents an established treatment modality able to downstage tumours, facilitate breast-conserving surgery, yet also achieve considerable pathologic complete response (pCR) rates in HER2-positive and triple-negative BC. For patients with HR+/HER2- BC, the choice between NACT and neoadjuvant endocrine therapy (NET) is still based on clinical and pathological features and not guided by biomarkers of defined clinical utility, differently from the adjuvant setting where gene-expression signatures have been widely adopted to drive decision-making.

New steps on an old path: Novel estrogen receptor inhibitors in breast cancer.

Estrogen receptor (ER) signaling represents the main driver of tumor growth and survival in hormone receptor positive (HR+) breast cancer (BC). Thus, endocrine therapy (ET) alone or in combination with targeted agents constitutes the mainstay of the treatment for this BC subtype. Despite its efficacy, intrinsic or acquired resistance to ET occurs in a large proportion of cases, mainly due to aberrant activation of ER signaling (i.