Extended adjuvant intermittent letrozole versus continuous letrozole in postmenopausal women with breast cancer (SOLE): a multicentre, open-label, randomised, phase 3 trial.

Background: In animal models of breast cancer, resistance to continuous use of letrozole can be reversed by withdrawal and reintroduction of letrozole. We therefore hypothesised that extended intermittent use of adjuvant letrozole would improve breast cancer outcome compared with continuous use of letrozole in postmenopausal women.

Methods: We did the multicentre, open-label, randomised, parallel, phase 3 SOLE trial in 240 centres (academic, primary, secondary, and tertiary care centres) in 22 countries.

Concurrent and sequential initiation of ovarian function suppression with chemotherapy in premenopausal women with endocrine-responsive early breast cancer: an exploratory analysis of TEXT and SOFT.

Background: Recent breast cancer treatment guidelines recommend that higher-risk premenopausal patients should receive ovarian function suppression (OFS) as part of adjuvant endocrine therapy. If chemotherapy is also given, it is uncertain whether to select concurrent or sequential OFS initiation.

Design And Methods: We analyzed 1872 patients enrolled in the randomized phase III TEXT and SOFT trials who received adjuvant chemotherapy for hormone receptor-positive, HER2-negative breast cancer and upon randomization to an OFS-containing adjuvant endocrine therapy, initiated gonadotropin-releasing-hormone-agonist triptorelin.

First international consensus conference on standardization of oncoplastic breast conserving surgery.

Purpose: To obtain consensus recommendations for the standardization of oncoplastic breast conserving surgery (OPS) from an international panel of experts in breast surgery including delegates from the German, Austrian and Swiss societies of senology.

Methods: A total of 52 questions were addressed by electronic voting. The panel's recommendations were put into context with current evidence and the report was circled in an iterative open email process until consensus was obtained.

Adjuvant treatment recommendations for patients with ER-positive/HER2-negative early breast cancer by Swiss tumor boards using the 21-gene recurrence score (SAKK 26/10).

Background: To evaluate the effect of Recurrence Score® results (RS; Oncotype DX® multigene assay ODX) on treatment recommendations by Swiss multidisciplinary tumor boards (TB).

Methods: SAKK 26/10 is a multicenter, prospective cohort study of early breast cancer patients: Eligibility: R0-resection, ≥10% ER+ malignant cells, HER2-, pN0/pN1a. Patients were stratified into low-risk (LR) and non-low-risk (NLR) groups based on involved nodes (0 vs 1-3) and five additional predefined risk factors.

Cholesterol, Cholesterol-Lowering Medication Use, and Breast Cancer Outcome in the BIG 1-98 Study.

Purpose Cholesterol-lowering medication (CLM) has been reported to have a role in preventing breast cancer recurrence. CLM may attenuate signaling through the estrogen receptor by reducing levels of the estrogenic cholesterol metabolite 27-hydroxycholesterol. The impact of endocrine treatment on cholesterol levels and hypercholesterolemia per se may counteract the intended effect of aromatase inhibitors.

Breast cancer screening attendance in two Swiss regions dominated by opportunistic or organized screening.

Background: In Switzerland, the French-speaking region has an organized breast cancer (BC) screening program; in the German-speaking region, only opportunistic screening until recently had been offered. We evaluated factors associated with attendance to breast cancer screening in these two regions.

Methods: We analyzed the data of 50-69 year-old women (n = 2769) from the Swiss Health Survey 2012.

Tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) are a powerful prognostic marker in patients with triple-negative breast cancer enrolled in the IBCSG phase III randomized clinical trial 22-00.

The purpose of this study was to assess the prognostic and predictive value of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) in the triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) cohort of the phase III IBCSG trial 22-00, comparing low-dose oral 'metronomic' cyclophosphamide-methotrexate maintenance chemotherapy (CM-maintenance) to no-CM-maintenance in early breast cancer. TILs were evaluated in full-face hematoxylin-and-eosin-stained sections of tumor samples confirmed centrally as TNBC (< 1 % of ER and PgR immunoreactivity and absence of HER2 overexpression or amplification). Mononuclear cells were evaluated in the stromal area within the borders of the invasive tumor.

Adjuvant Tamoxifen Plus Ovarian Function Suppression Versus Tamoxifen Alone in Premenopausal Women With Early Breast Cancer: Patient-Reported Outcomes in the Suppression of Ovarian Function Trial.

Purpose: The Suppression of Ovarian Function trial showed improved disease control for tamoxifen plus ovarian function suppression (OFS) compared with tamoxifen alone for the cohort of premenopausal patients who received prior chemotherapy. We present the patient-reported outcomes.

Patients And Methods: The quality-of-life (QoL) analysis includes 1,722 of 2,045 premenopausal patients with hormone receptor-positive breast cancer randomly assigned to receive adjuvant treatment with 5 years of tamoxifen plus OFS or tamoxifen alone.

Lifestyle and health-related predictors of cervical cancer screening attendance in a Swiss population-based study.

Background: Since the implementation of cervical cancer (CC) screening, incidence and mortality rates have decreased worldwide. Little is known about lifestyle and health-related predictors of cervical cancer screening attendance in Switzerland. Our aim was to examine the relationship between lifestyle and health-related factors and the attendance to CC screening in Switzerland.

Adjuvant bisphosphonates in breast cancer treatment.

Several solid tumors like breast cancer tend to spread to the bone, where the microenvironment is especially receptive to the tumor by special interactions between bone cells and tumor cells. Bone metastases often lead to skeletal-related events with significant morbidity and mortality. The therapy of bone metastases and osteoporosis with bisphosphonates (BPs) has been established many years ago as a standard treatment.

Late recurrences in early breast cancer: for whom and how long is endocrine therapy beneficial?

During the last decade, besides the well-established clinical-pathological predictors for the risk of late recurrence in breast cancer, such as estrogen receptor status, and T and N stage, a variety of multigene assays have been shown to improve prognostication and prediction in this setting. Several clinical trials have evaluated the role of extended endocrine therapy with tamoxifen (ATLAS) or aromatase inhibitors (MA.17, NSABP-B33 and ABCSG 6a), and other randomized studies are still ongoing.