Talking Tumors: Adaptive Approaches in Triple-Negative and HR-Positive Breast Cancers

We recently traveled to Atlanta, Georgia for a State of the Science Summit™ on Breast Cancer. In keeping up with the expanding breast cancer treatment armamentarium, we sat down with Jane L. Meisel, MD, an assistant professor in the Department of Hematology and Medical Oncology and Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics at Winship Cancer Institute, Emory University School of Medicine, and Aditya Bardia, MD, MPH, an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, and an attending physician in Medical Oncology at Massachusetts General Hospital.

In our discussion, Drs Meisel and Bardia shed light on treatment considerations for women with triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) who do not achieve a complete response to neoadjuvant therapy, emerging treatment strategies for patients with metastatic TNBC, as well as the optimal timing of genomic testing in women with progressive hormone receptor—positive disease.

First, Dr Bardia presents a case of a 40-year-old premenopausal patient who was found to have a hypoechoic mass in the right upper quadrant, approximately 4 centimeters in size.

Then, we hear from Dr Meisel, who presents a case of a 38-year-old female who was diagnosed with a grade 2, 2.6-centimeter T2N0 estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer in 2013. ER and PR were 100%. The patient received a lumpectomy and radiation followed by tamoxifen. Due to adverse events, the patient stopped treatment. Five years later, she developed bone pain and was found to have osseous metastases and liver metastases. A biopsy of the metastatic liver lesion is HR-positive and HER2-negative.