Breast Cancer

The recent FDA approval of sacituzumab govitecan for certain patients with triple-negative breast cancer was an exciting one. Here’s what oncology nurses need to know.

Over the last few weeks, the FDA was busy reviewing and approving new cancer treatments.

There is far less patient education for oral agents, such as CDK4/6 inhibitors for breast cancer, as there is for chemotherapy. This is a major issue, explained Patricia Jakel, MN, RN, AOCN, advanced practice nurse at UCLA's solid tumor program and co-editor in chief of Oncology Nursing News.

Treatment with talazoparib (Talzenna) did not demonstrate a statistically significant overall survival (OS) benefit in patients with BRCA1/2-mutated metastatic HER2-negative breast cancer, according to updated findings from the phase 3 EMBRACA trial (NCT01945775).1 However, lead author Jennifer Litton, MD, said that there is still reason to believe treatment with the PARP inhibitor can improve OS.

The FDA has granted an accelerated approval to sacituzumab govitecan-hziy for the treatment of adult patients with pretreated metastatic triple-negative breast cancer.

The FDA has approved tucatinib (Tukysa) for use in combination with trastuzumab (Herceptin) and capecitabine (Xeloda) for the treatment of patients with unresectable locally advanced or metastatic HER2-positive breast cancer, including patients with brain metastases, following at least 1 prior therapy.

Leading oncology and breast cancer organizations came together to create treatment recommendations for patients with breast cancer during the COVID-19 pandemic.

An increased proportion of Indigenous American (IA) genetic ancestry may be linked with a higher incidence of HER2-positive breast cancer, according to findings from a study published in Cancer Research.

Here are the top 5 Oncology Nursing News® stories for March 2020.

There are multiple factors in making "cold" breast cancer tumors "hot," meaning that they respond to chemotherapy, explained Hope S. Rugo, MD, FASCO, director of Breast Oncology and Clinical Trials Education at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Breast implant-associated anaplastic large-cell lymphoma (BIA-ALCL) is a relatively newly discovered illness, which leaves many questions for both patients and providers.

Oncology nurses made it a point to get to know Barbara Bigelow, a breast cancer survivor, while she was getting treatment. To her, that made a big difference.

The landscape of metastatic hormone receptor (HR)-positive breast cancer continues to evolve, highlighting the necessity of genetic and genomic testing, explained Elisa Krill-Jackson, MD.

Some patients with breast cancer might be apprehensive to undergo genetic testing, but it is crucial both for them and their family members. Lauren Carcas, MD, medical oncologist at the Miami Cancer Institute, discusses some main points nurses can make to these patients to encourage them to get tested.

Some metastatic breast cancer data is not available. And some patients choose not to know it.

Enhanced navigation led some high-risk patients to an earlier breast cancer diagnosis, according to recent research.

ASCO recently issued practice guidelines for pathologic diagnosis of breast implant-associated anaplastic large-cell lymphoma (BIA-ALCL) to help healthcare practitioners better this rare disease.

Here are the top 5 Oncology Nursing News® stories for February 2020.

The FDA has approved a supplemental new drug application (sNDA) for neratinib (Nerlynx) in combination with capecitabine (Xeloda) for the treatment of adult patients with advanced or metastatic HER2-positive breast cancer who have received ≥2 prior anti–HER2-based regimens in the metastatic setting.

The FDA has accepted a Biologics License Application (BLA) for a fixed-dose combination (FDC) of pertuzumab (Perjeta) and trastuzumab (Herceptin) with hyaluronidase, administered by subcutaneous (SC) injection in combination with intravenous (IV) chemotherapy, for the treatment of eligible patients with HER2-positive breast cancer.

The fields of early-stage hormone receptor (HR)–positive and metastatic HER2-positive breast cancer have made great strides in recent years, said Neelima Denduluri, MD, and such progress could be attributed to the emergence of tailored treatment strategies and the use of HER2-directed agents, respectively.

The frontline combination of pembrolizumab (Keytruda) and chemotherapy significantly improved progression-free survival (PFS) compared with chemotherapy alone in patients with metastatic triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) whose tumors expressed PD-L1 (combined positive score [CPS] ≥10), meeting one of the dual primary endpoints of the phase III KEYNOTE-355 trial.

Nearly 1 year following the first checkpoint inhibitor approval in advanced triple-negative breast cancer, additional immunotherapeutic agents are poised to enter the field, according to Rita Nanda, MD.

Despite the emergence of PARP inhibitors, antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs), and immunotherapy in the treatment of patients with triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), more work is needed to propel further progress, according to Kevin Kalinsky, MD, MS.

Combining ovarian suppression and an aromatase inhibitor is an efficacious treatment method for premenopausal women with breast cancer. However, the regimen (which is given long-term) can cause some major adverse events, explained Dawn L. Hershman, MD, MS, professor of medicine and epidemiology at the Columbia University Irving Medical Center.

The role of radiation therapy, specifically with elective nodal irradiation (ENI), has evolved over the past several years, said He James Zhu, MD, PhD, adding that the technique should be performed in patients with breast cancer on an individualized basis.

Research presented at the 2019 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS) had a significant effect on the standard of care for patients with HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer, explained Erika P. Hamilton, MD.