Leading breast cancer experts affiliated with Susan G. Komen have gathered at the annual San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium to present the latest in clinical, translational and basic research which began on Tuesday, Dec. 7, and goes through Friday, Dec. 10.
At the meeting, Komen affiliated clinical and scientific researchers from around the world will be leading more than 47 presentations, lectures and discussions as well as more than 23 poster presentations.
“Many discoveries about breast cancer, new treatment options, and new approaches to delivering lifesaving care have been made because of Komen researchers. We are so thrilled to support the world’s leaders in breast cancer research and save lives from this disease,” said Victoria Wolodzko, Senior Vice President of Mission at Komen. “Together, Komen and our scientists have made transformative and lasting contributions to the breast cancer field and the people we serve in support of our mission, which is to meet the most critical needs in our communities and invest in breakthrough research to prevent and cure breast cancer.”
Highlights from the meeting where Komen Scholars and early career scientists will be presenting and speaking include:
- Dr. Carlos Caldas will be presenting for the first-time new findings from a landmark study on a possible way to predict treatment response in breast cancer patients before treatment begins during his lecture as the 2021 Susan G. Komen Brinker Award winner for Scientific Distinction in Basic Science.
- Dr. Judy Garber will present on using clinical genetics to better treat triple negative breast cancer and BRCA-associated breast cancers during her lecture as the 2021 Susan G. Komen Brinker Award winner in Clinical Research.
- Dr. Lajos Puztsai and Dr. Heather McArthur will be a presenter for a keynote on a phase 3 study of pembrolizumab + chemotherapy vs placebo + chemotherapy as neoadjuvant treatment, followed by pembrolizumab vs placebo as adjuvant treatment for early-stage high-risk triple-negative breast cancer.
- Dr. David W. Cescon will be a presenter on a keynote presentation on the final results of a randomized, double-blind, phase 3 study of pembrolizumab + chemotherapy vs placebo + chemotherapy for previously untreated locally recurrent inoperable or metastatic triple-negative breast cancer.
- Dr. Ian Krop and Dr. Aditya Bardia will be presenting on Datopotamab deruxtecan in advanced/metastatic HER2- breast cancer and the results from the phase 1 TROPION-PanTumor01 study.
- Dr. Eric P. Winer, Dr. Antonio Wolff, Dr. Kathy D. Miller will be presenting the final results on the randomized phase III PALLAS trial, which is adjuvant palbociclib in HR+/HER2- early breast cancer.
- Dr. Karen Gelmon, Dr. Jennifer Ligibel, Dr. Dawn L. Hershman, Dr. Ingrid A. Mayer, will be presenting on the results of the primary efficacy analysis for GS1-08 CCTGMA.32, a phase III randomized double-blind, placebo-controlled adjuvant trial of metformin (MET) vs placebo (PLAC) in early breast cancer.
- Melissa L. Bondy, PhD, will be moderating a COVID-19 and Cancer sub-session on how COVID changed “everything.”
- Dr. Jennifer L. Caswell-Jin will be speaking during a COVID-19 and Cancer session on national claims data analysis of breast cancer diagnosis and treatment before versus during the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Justin Balko, PharmD, PhD, will be speaking on how to select biomarkers rationally during a clinical research workshop.
- Patty Spears will be presenting on how to include patient advocates in clinical research during a clinical research workshop.
- Dr. George W. Sledge, Jr., will be speaking on how to present clinical research results effectively during a clinical workshop.
- Dr. Jennifer Rosenbluth will be speaking about genome editing in human organoids as new models for discovery during the Basic Science for Breast Oncologists Workshop.
- Dr. Daniel Stover will be discussing, “In silico experimentation from your living room: Tools to access and analyze existing datasets,” during the Basic Science for Breast Oncologists Workshop.
- Charles, M. Perou, PhD, is co-moderating a special session panel with three other Komen researchers Dr. Erica Stringer-Reasor, Dr. Eric P. Winer, Dr. Amelia Ramirez and Advocate in Science member, Thelma Brown. The special session on Trust in Science and Healthcare is called, “Diversity in clinical trials – From Ideation to Implementation COVID Update.
- Charles M. Perou, PhD, will also give a talk on ER/HER2+ cross talk.
- Regina Barzilay, PhD, will give a presentation during an educational session titled, “Everything you always wanted to know about AI but were afraid to ask.”
- Dr. Olufunmilayo (Funmi) Olopade, will be moderating a panel of experts during a session titled, “Refining Heredity Risk.”
- Dr. Dawn L. Hershman will be moderating a panel of experts during a session titled, “Evidence Based Integrative Therapies – During and Beyond Treatment.”
- Dr. Lisa Carey and Dr. Aleix Prat to present the results of the MONALEESA 2, 3 and 7 trials on ribociclib + endocrine therapy in patients with HR+/HER2− advanced breast cancer.
- Dr. Eric P. Winer and Dr. Carlos Arteaga will present the results of the phase III, MONALEESA-2 study of first-line ribociclib + letrozole in postmenopausal patients with advanced HR+/HER2- breast cancer.
- Dr. Aditya Bardia will be presenting the results of the Phase III EMERALD trial, which will indicate if a selective estrogen receptor degrader (SERD) could potentially be recommended for ER+ and HER2- advanced metastatic breast cancer following progression on proir endocrine and CDK4/6 inhibitor therapy.
- Dr. Eric P. Winer and Dr. Sherene Loi will give an update of the combined TEXT and SOFT trials, a randomized comparison of adjuvant aromatase inhibitor exemestane (E) plus ovarian function suppression (OFS) vs tamoxifen (T) plus OFS in premenopausal women with hormone receptor-positive (HR+) early breast cancer (BC).
- Dr. Julie R. Gralow, Dr. Daniel Fleming Hayes, Dr. Edith A. Perez and Dr. Lajos Pusztai will present the results of the Phase III, randomized clinical trial called RxPONDER for participants with 1-3 positive lymph nodes, hormone receptor-positive and HER2-negative breast cancer.
- Dr. Eric P. Winer and Dr. Elizabeth Mittendorf will present the Nimbus trial results looking at the safety and efficacy of the immunotherapy drugs Obdive + Vervoy for HER2-negative metastatic breast cancer patients.
- Dr. Olufunmilayo (Funmi) Olopade, who was awarded the William McGuire Memorial Lecture will highlight the importance of heterogeneity in cancer diagnostics in a special session titled, “Heterogeneity of Breast Cancer Genomes: Going Beyond Therapy to Risk Assessment and Prevention.”
- Dr. Lisa Carey, Dr. Charles M. Perou, Dr. Eric P Winer and Dr. Kornelia Polyak will present during a special session titled, “Re-framing Leadership in Academic Breast Oncology post COVID-19.”
- Melissa L. Bondy, PhD, and Patty Spears will co-moderate a panel of experts on Health Equity in Translational Research Studies.
- Donald P. McDonnell, PhD, will be an expert on the panel about ER Mutations and SERDS.
- Christy Hagan, PhD, will be an expert on a panel discussion titled, “Targeting Nuclear Steroid Receptors.”
- Dr. Elizabeth Mittendorf will be an expert on a panel discussion titled, “Triple Negative Breast Cancer: Critical Update on Biology and Management.”
- Dr. Ingrid A. Mayer and Dr. Sherene Loi will be experts on a panel discussion titled, “Emerging Adjuvant Therapies: What’s Ready for Prime Time?”
- Dr. Reshma Jagsi will be an expert on a panel discussion titled, “Local Therapy – Management of the Axilla.”
- Dr. Giuseppe Curigliano and Dr. Sarat Chandarlapaty to give a presentation titled, “Genomic analysis of 733 HER2+ breast cancers identifies recurrent pathways alterations associated with anti-HER2 resistance and new therapeutic vulnerabilities.”
- Dr. KM Lee, Dr. Nikhil Wagle, and Dr. Carlos Arteaga to give a presentation titled, “Loss of ASXL1 tumor suppressor promotes resistance to CDK4/6 inhibitors in ER+ breast cancer.”
- Helen M. Piwnica-Worms, PhD, will be giving the AACR Distinguished Lectureship in Breast Cancer Research.
- Mitchell Dowsett, PhD, to give the plenary lecture on Genomic Profiling in Early-Stage ER Positive Breast Cancers/Precision Medicine.
- Dr. Aleix Prat is one of the experts speaking on HER2 Heterogeneity for the Translational Science Forum.
- Dr. Susan Domchek and Dr. Aditya Bardia are panel members on the Molecular Tumor Board.
- Dr. Heath McArthur will be a speak on a panel about clinical updates on immunotherapy.
- Justin Balko, PharmD, PhD, will moderate a panel on anti-cancer immune response.
- Dr. Funda Meric-Bernstam will moderate a panel of experts including Komen affiliated Trey Westbrook, PhD, and Dr. David W. Cescon in a session titled, “Treating the ‘Un-Druggable’.”
- Dr. Olufunmilayo (Funmi) Olopade and Dr. Lajos Pusztai will present the analysis of clinical outcomes and expression-based immune signatures by race in the I-SPY 2 trial.
- Dr. Tari A. King, Dr. Anna M. Storniolo, Dr. Gaorav P. Gupta, and Dr. Kornelia Polyak will be leading a session titled, “The Breast PreCancer Atlas DCIS genomic signatures define biology and correlate with clinical outcomes: An analysis of TBCRC 038 and RAHBT cohort.”
- Dr. Julia White will be speaking during a debate on the pros and cons of one week of whole breast RT being the New Standard of Care.
- Dr. Lisa Carey will be giving a plenary lecture on Triple Negative Breast Cancer – Pitfalls and Progress.
- Dr. Tari King will be moderating a discussion on The Evolution of Local Therapy in the Genomic Era
To interview any Komen researchers on study presentations, findings or discussions from the SABCS 2021 Conference, please contact the public relations team at adebard@komen.org or dsong@komen.org.
