🚀 Breakthroughs in Hormone-Positive Breast Cancer Treatment!

 Did you know? Breast tissue responds to estrogen and progesterone during a woman’s menstrual cycle. But in hormone-positive breast cancer, these same hormones can fuel tumor growth if cancer cells have estrogen (ER) or progesterone (PR) receptors.

To combat this, endocrine therapies block hormones or lower their levels—but resistance often develops over time.

🔬 The Challenge:
"In advanced cases, patients eventually stop responding to treatment. Metastatic breast cancer (spread beyond the breast) remains incurable," says Julia Perkins Smith (ex-Pfizer, now at Eli Lilly), a leader in ER+/HER2-low breast cancer research.

💡 The Innovation:
At #SABCS2024, her team unveiled 30+ abstracts, including updates on vepdegestrant—the first PROTAC estrogen receptor degrader in clinical trials! Developed by Arvinas & Pfizer, this drug marks ER for destruction using the body’s natural disposal system.

Why New Treatments?
▶ 40% of ER+/HER2- patients develop ESR1 mutations, making tumors resistant to standard therapies (e.g., aromatase inhibitors).
▶ Vepdegestrant + abemaciclib (CDK4/6 inhibitor) showed a 62.5% clinical benefit rate in Phase 1b trials!

🌟 Other Promising Therapies:
✔ Atirmociclib (next-gen CDK4 inhibitor) + letrozole: Strong safety & anti-tumor activity.
✔ KAT6 inhibitor: Disrupts cancer gene expression, potentially overcoming resistance.

#BreastCancerResearch #HormoneTherapy #MetastaticBreastCancer #PROTAC #InnovationInOncology

👉 "Our goal? Help patients live longer, better lives by tackling resistance pathways," says Perkins Smith. The future of breast cancer treatment is here!

Reference

1. Dustin, D., Gu, G., & Fuqua, S.A.W. ESR1 mutations in breast cancer. Cancer  125, 3714–3728 (2019).