This week, YSC is headed to Chicago for the annual American Society for Clinical Oncology (ASCO) meeting. ASCO is the largest oncology meeting in the world, with over 35,000 people in attendance each year. At the meeting, researchers share their findings with the broader cancer community.
The abstracts of much of the research are shared before the conference actually begins. When looking through those abstracts this year, we saw a number of interesting pieces of research that pertain to our community. Here’s our preview of research to follow at ASCO 2017 and if you’ll be attending, stop by and talk to the researchers!:
1. Pregnancy after breast cancer: Results from a prospective cohort study.
What was studied?
This research focused on pregnancy and fertility after breast cancer.
Why is it important?
This research showed the success rates of young women desiring to have children after a breast cancer diagnosis and the factors that can influence pregnancy success.
The research comes from the POSITIVE trial, an important trial examining the safety of taking a “baby break” from tamoxifen to have a child.
Long-term results from a large analysis evaluating the impact of pregnancy on recurrence risk and other cancer-related outcomes among breast cancer survivors is being presented live at ASCO on Saturday. (Abstract LBA10066)
What was studied?
Clinical trial participation among adolescents and young adults is low - this study tried to understand what factors lead to low participation in this population.
Why is it important?
Using surveys of younger and older cancer patients, this study identified a few key areas that may influence AYA patients’ participation in trials. More study is needed, but it opens the door for conversations about improving participation in clinical trials in adolescents and young adults.
3. Molecular profiling comparison of breast cancer subtypes in young women and older women.
What was studied?
The genomic profiles of tumors of young women diagnosed with breast cancer were compared with the genomics of tumors found in older women.
Why is it important?
Researchers found molecular differences between the tumors belonging to each population. These differences may help refine treatment practices in the future.
4. Chemotherapy-induced ovarian failure (CIOF) in young women with early breast cancer (EBC).
What was studied?
The focus of this study was ovarian function in young women treated with chemotherapy. Women were followed from the beginning of treatment until two years after finishing treatment.
Why is it important?
This study identified a number of factors, including age and treatment regimen, that had an effect on ovarian function.
What was studied?
Here, the research looked at the ability of an organization like the Metastatic Breast Cancer Project to connect directly with patients, to empower them to share their clinical information and samples to aid in metastatic breast cancer research.
Why is it important?
The MBC Project successfully used social media to enroll nearly 3000 people living with metastatic breast cancer in their research study - demonstrating how patients can be empowered to participate in research in a new way. YSC is a proud advocacy partner in this project.
In addition to these, there are three “late-breaking” abstracts we’re watching closely. Details of these studies have not been released in advance, which can often mean they contain some important news.
- Saturday: Long-term results from a large analysis evaluating the impact of pregnancy on recurrence risk and other cancer-related outcomes among breast cancer survivors (Abstract LBA10066)
- Sunday: Results from a phase III clinical trial evaluating the PARP inhibitor olaparib vs. standard chemotherapy for women with BRCA-related advanced breast cancer (Abstract LBA4, Plenary)
- Monday: Results from a large phase III clinical trial investigating the addition of pertuzumab to adjuvant trastuzumab and chemotherapy for patients with HER2-positive, early breast cancer (Abstract LBA500)
You can follow along with the breaking news from ASCO this weekend by searching the hashtag #ASCO17 on Twitter and Facebook. There’s a lot of news and discussion, which can get overwhelming, so we recommend following ASCO’s Featured Voices list for a curated look at the breaking oncology news.
