HER2-Targeted Therapies: How Far We've Come—and Where We’re Headed

April 24, 2020

By Nancy E. Davidson, MD

In 2004, Dr. Leisha Emens and I reviewed the use of trastuzumab(Drug information on trastuzumab) (Herceptin), the monoclonal antibody directed against the HER2 protein, in the treatment of breast cancer. At that time, trastuzumab as monotherapy or in combination with chemotherapy was established as a standard of care for women with advanced HER2-overexpressing metastatic breast cancer. Much new information has emerged in the ensuing seven years.

NYU Langone Medical Center awarded $4.5 million for breast cancer research

April 20, 2020

NYU Langone Medical Center announced today the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) Breast Cancer Research Program (BCRP) of the Office of the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs has awarded Silvia Formenti, MD, the Sandra and Edward Meyer Professor and Chair of the Department of Radiation Oncology a $4.5 million Multi-Team Award to conduct novel breast cancer research.

UAB launches drug trial aimed at triple-negative breast cancers

April 12, 2020

By Nicole Wyatt

A drug to treat metastatic, triple-negative breast cancer is being tested in a national clinical trial at the UAB Comprehensive Cancer Center, where it was developed.

Roche announces positive Phase II results for trastuzumab emtansine (T-DM1) in HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer

April 8, 2020

By ChemInfoNews

Roche today announced topline results of its first randomized trial of trastuzumab emtansine (T-DM1) in HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer.

Molecules identified that help propel cancer metastasis

April 8, 2020

By Kim Newman

For many types of cancer, the original tumor itself is usually not deadly. Instead, it's the spread of a tiny subpopulation of cells from the primary tumor to other parts of the body—the process known as metastasis—that all too often kills the patient. Now, researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have identified two molecules that enable cancer to spread inside the body. These findings could eventually lead to therapies that prevent metastasis by inactivating the molecules.

DNA of 50 breast cancer patients decoded

April 4, 2020

By Julia Evangelou Strait

In the single largest cancer genomics investigation reported to date, scientists have sequenced the whole genomes of tumors from 50 breast cancer patients and compared them to the matched DNA of the same patients’ healthy cells.