New Options for ER+ Breast Cancer Spotlighted at Patient Event

Following a recent CURE Educated Patient® Updates in Metastatic Breast Cancer event, CURE spoke with an expert who participated in the event. During the conversation, the expert highlighted key information on what patients with metastatic breast cancer should be aware of before and during their treatment.

Dr. Brian Czerniecki, chair and senior member of the Department of Breast Oncology at Moffitt Cancer Center, led the event which was held at the Moffitt McKinley Outpatient Campus in Tampa, Florida, in collaboration with Moffitt Cancer Center and Susan G. Komen.

Following the event, in his conversation with CURE, Czerniecki stated that regarding clinical trials patients should have on their radar, individuals should be aware of clinical trials utilizing selective estrogen receptor degraders (SERDs) for metastatic estrogen receptor (ER)–positive breast cancer, for example.

SERDs, as explained on the Susan G. Komen website, are a type of hormone therapy, specifically anti-estrogen drugs that bind to the estrogen receptor in a tumor cell, causing the receptor to be broken down by the cell.

Upcoming Educated Patient Updates in Metastatic Breast Cancer events are scheduled for April 28 at the Georgia Cancer Center in Augusta; May 1 at the Masonic Cancer Center in Minneapolis; and May 8 at the West Cancer Center and Research Institute in Germantown, Tennessee.

The in-person meetings include discussion of ESR1-positive metastatic breast cancer, highlighting various treatment options (regardless of the stage of disease), the importance of biomarkers, and a review of an example treatment strategy. The events welcome patients with cancer, survivors, caregivers, and nurses.

CURE: For patients, what do you hope were the key takeaways from the overall event?

Czerniecki: That there are treatment options for metastatic ER-positive breast cancer. They're not perfect but there are things that will work for some people for a very long time — for others, maybe not quite as long, and that there are other things coming down the pipeline that should help with all that.

What was some participant feedback or questions that stood out to you?

There were some questions about resistance and the mutations that happen in ESR1. I thought [the attendees] were pretty engaged and knew quite a bit, that they were informed as a group about treatment options for ER-positive metastatic breast cancer.

And is that something you're finding in general these days, that patients are more informed and more in the know about their disease and their treatment options?

Out there, it's kind of 50/50, so some people are really informed, while others are not so particularly informed. Then there's a small group, but it exists, of patients who are skeptical of standard approved treatments and want to pursue alternative therapies regardless. However, most of the people who were there, I thought, were informed.

This means that whether they were undergoing those standard therapies or not, had done them, or were pursuing alternative therapies, they at least knew what the treatment options were and what was available to them.

Looking ahead, what are some current or upcoming clinical trials that you think patients should have on their radar?

I'd say any of the trials using SERDs, like oral SERDs for metastatic ER-positive breast cancer, and anything that targets mutations in ESR1 would be interesting things for patients to keep an eye out for. Also, I'd suggest keeping an eye on antibody-drug conjugates, because besides Enhertu (fam-trastuzumab deruxtecan-nxki), there are likely more coming in the future as well.

Transcript was edited for clarity and conciseness.

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