Miami Breast Cancer Conference

Over the past few decades, the optimal margin width for minimizing recurrence after breast-conserving surgery (BCS; lumpectomy) has been a topic of much debate.

The most promising novel therapeutics in development for patients with breast cancer focus primarily on targeting activating mutations in combinations that are based on findings from next-generation sequencing.

Henry M. Kuerer, MD, PhD, FACS, professor of surgery, Department of Surgical Oncology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses the overtreatment of DCIS.

Grant W. Carlson, MD, professor of surgery, Emory University School of Medicine, chief, Division of Plastic Surgery, Emory University Hospital, discusses treatment considerations for younger patients with breast cancer.

Since its approval in 1998 to treat metastatic disease, trastuzumab has dramatically expanded life expectancy and improved quality of life for women diagnosed with HER2-positive breast cancer.

The large Canadian study that has caused a stir by indicating that mammograms are of no use in women aged 40 to 59 years, and in fact can lead to over-diagnosis of breast cancer, is flawed and misleading.

A wide-ranging analysis of more than 5500 breast cancer tumors that combined genomic and protein expression testing has identified promising targets to explore for treating patients with poor prognoses, with particularly notable findings involving androgen receptor (AR) expression.

José Baselga, MD, PhD, Physician-in-Chief, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, discusses targeting the phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) in breast cancer.

Lisa A. Carey, MD, Professor of Medicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, discusses the challenges of triple-negative breast cancer.

Fabrice Andre, MD, PhD, Research Director, Head of INSERM Unit U981, Institut National des Sciences et de la Recherche Médicale, Villejuif, France, discusses the need for new testing methods.

Martine Piccart, MD, PhD, director of medicine at the Jules Bordet Institute in Brussels, Belgium, discusses genomic testing in breast cancer.

The 30th Annual Miami Breast Cancer Conference (MBCC) at the Fontainebleau Miami Beach Hotel, in Miami Florida, from March 7-10, 2013.

Approximately 20% of human breast cancers are characterized by overexpression of the HER2 receptor tyrosine kinase molecule. Multiple anitbodies have been designed to specifically target HER2, and each is able to target the molecule at a different epitope.

George W. Sledge, Jr, MD, Chief, Division of Oncology, Professor of Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, discusses drug toxicity among targeted agents.

So far, there are no conclusive biomarkers to help identify subsets of patients who would benefit from antiangiogenic therapies, creating a barrier to the use of such treatments, Rugo said in her MBCC abstract.

Patients with ER-positive breast cancer, which accounts for approximately 70% of all cases, have benefited from the use of hormonal therapies to treat their disease.

Although targeted antibodies in cancer have been promising, most have only marginal activity in their targeted cancer and must be paired with a chemotherapeutic agent to maximize efficacy.

Gene expression profiling via the Oncotype DX 21-gene recurrence score assay has been used to assess risk and predict recurrence in hundreds of thousands of women over the course of nearly a decade.

The development of new drug combinations to treat patients with ER-negative breast cancer is being advanced by a growing understanding of the protein kinase activity along the EGFR pathway.

Emanuel F. Petricoin III, PhD, Co-Director, Center for Applied Proteomics & Molecular Medicine, Professor of Life Sciences, George Mason University, discusses the use of the reverse phase protein microarray (RPPA).

Fabrice André, MD, PhD, has focused his research on translational oncology and the development of novel targeted agents for the treatment of breast cancer through his research as director of INSERM Unit U981 at the Institut Gustave-Roussy in Villejuif, France.

Patrick Borgen, MD, chair, Department of Surgery, director, Maimonides Breast Cancer Center, discusses the Miami Breast Cancer Conference.