Open Access News Cancer Research News Breaking barriers in breast cancer treatment: The shift towards personalised care June 28, 2024 image: ©KatarzynaBialasiewicz | iStock Dr Mark Verrill, Consultant Medical Oncologist at the Northern Centre for Cancer Care, discusses the importance of personalised breast cancer treatment As a consultant medical oncologist specialising in breast cancer treatment, I have witnessed the remarkable evolution of medical approaches over the past decade. The journey has been characterised not by sudden, seismic shifts but by steady, incremental progress. We have transitioned from broadly applied chemotherapies to highly targeted treatments, which are significantly improving patient outcomes and quality of life.
The recent approval of CDK 4/6 inhibitors for early and late-stage breast cancer and the impact of HER2- targeted therapies, such as trastuzumab deruxtecan (T-DXd), are prime examples. In the challenging realm of triple-negative breast cancer, new treatments, including immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) and antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs), have been approved. ICIs turn the immune system against the cancer, and ADCs specifically target cancer cells, delivering a potent chemotherapy payload to the site of disease.
There has been a parallel evolution in cancer genomics with a range of indications, including identification of cancer-predisposing genes, determination of prognosis, selection of treatment, prediction of treatment toxicity, detect.