Dr Harold J. Burstein, of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, Massachusetts, highlights key abstracts on early breast cancer from the 2023 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting.
Dr Burstein first reports on exciting results from the phase 3 NATALEE trial, which compared adjuvant use of CDK4/6 inhibitor ribociclib plus endocrine therapy (ET) vs ET alone in patients with HR+/HER2- early breast cancer and found that the combination lowered risk for recurrence.
The results of NATALEE, together with the recent findings of the monarchE trial, provide strong evidence that the addition of a CDK4/6 inhibitor to ET is useful in the adjuvant setting. Dr Burstein suggests that these findings may point to an emerging treatment paradigm in HR+/HER2- patients, particularly those with higher-risk breast cancers.
Dr Burstein next discusses important data from the Early Breast Cancer Trialists Collaborative Group (EBCTCG). Their meta-analysis of 25 randomized trials on ovarian ablation in premenopausal women showed that ovarian ablation provided a substantial reduction in 15-year risk for recurrence and death.
Finally, Dr Burstein reports on data from an analysis of patients enrolled in the PENELOPE-B trial to assess the value of circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) in predicting clinical relapse. Dr Burstein reports that the results indicated that ctDNA was a strong prognostic factor for disease recurrence.
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Harold J. Burstein, MD, PhD, Professor, Department of Medicine, Harvard Medical School; Institute Physician, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, Massachusetts
Harold J. Burstein, MD, PhD, has disclosed no relevant financial relationships.