Advances In Triple Negative Breast Cancer Treatment

>>>Dr. Margileth: Triple negative breast cancer is defined as a breast cancer that is estrogen
receptor negative, progesterone receptor negative, and HER2-neu-gene negative.
What this implies is that hormone therapies such as aromatase inhibitors or tamoxifen
would have no effect in the treatment of that cancer and Herceptin, which is used in HER2
positive breast cancers also would not be effective.
So that what we are left with is chemotherapy. There have been a number of attempts to find
specific chemotherapies that may work better in triple negative breast cancer. There is
some hint that platinum drugs such as Carboplatin or Cisplatin may be more effective in triple
negative breast cancer and there are now several clinical trials looking at platinum-based
therapies versus more conventional chemotherapies with Adriamycin and Cytoxan and a Taxane to
see if indeed the platinum drugs are more effective.
There are also studies looking at Avastin, which is an anti-angiogenesis drug to see
if it may be more effective in triple negative breast cancer and also trials looking at a
group of drugs called PARP inhibitors that are specific to triple negative breast cancers
and there was some initial data that they did work quite well in triple negative breast
cancers but at least the first drug trial when expanded to more patients was somewhat
disappointing.
There are, however, a number of clinical trials looking at other PARP inhibitors and obviously
we hoped that they panned out as being better treatments for triple negative breast cancer.
Triple negative breast cancer because chemotherapy is the only avenue of treatment, can be quite
frustrating because the patient may be on chemotherapy for prolonged periods of time
and beyond that triple negative breast cancers tend to be one of the more aggressive forms
of breast cancer.
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Hi, I am Dr. Jay Harness and I want to share with you an important information that I believe
that every newly diagnosed patient with breast cancer needs to know.
Susan Denver: “I am a breast cancer survivor.”
Katherine Stockton: “I am a breast cancer survivor.”
Coree: “I am a breast cancer survivor…”
Susan Denver: “…and I want every woman to know…”
Katherine Stockton: “…about personalized breast cancer treatment…”
Susan Denver: “…and the Genomic Test.”
Coree: “A test that helps guide a woman and her doctor…”
Katherine Stockton: “…to the best treatment options for her.”
Susan Denver: “Pass it on!”