Listen to the Special Cancer.Net Podcast: 2007 Breast Cancer Symposium Highlights, with Eric Winer, MD, adapted from this feature.

The 2007 Breast Cancer Symposium is a new, multidisciplinary educational meeting about breast cancer. Held September 7 and 8, it is sponsored by the American Society of Clinical Oncology, the American Society of Breast Disease, the American Society of Breast Surgeons, the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology, and the Society of Surgical Oncology. Cancer.Net talked with Nancy Davidson, MD, to learn more about this meeting and the research presented.

Q: What is unique about this symposium?

A: The goal of the 2007 Breast Cancer Symposium is to integrate emerging science into clinical practice. Cosponsored by the major professional societies for medical, surgical and radiation cancer specialists as well as breast specialty societies, it provides an opportunity for health care practitioners and researchers in all these areas to present and discuss new scientific results that are important for breast cancer practice. Its key features are timeliness and novelty of results, emphasis on science that is likely to have clinical relevance in the near term, and multidisciplinary focus in a small meeting setting to maximize scientific interaction.

Q: One of the sessions is about the role of the hormone estrogen in breast cancer. What still needs to be understood about hormones and breast cancer?

A: The importance of estrogen in breast cancer has been recognized for many years. But, much remains unknown about how hormones like estrogen contribute to breast cancer development and how to take advantage of the estrogen signaling pathways to prevent or treat breast cancer. Increased knowledge about the biology underlying these pathways will help us to unravel some of these questions. Also, we are increasingly aware that we need to consider the effects of estrogen for women's health generally, as global health maintenance is critical in a disease like breast cancer where so many women do so well after therapy.

Q: What is the role of therapy before surgery in breast cancer?

Traditionally, early breast cancer has been treated by surgery followed by drug therapy and radiation therapy as indicated. But not all women with a newly diagnosed breast cancer are recommended to have immediate surgery because of the extent of the breast cancer, and these women often receive drug therapy first to make surgery easier. There is also much interest in whether giving drug therapy first would allow us to assess the effects of the drug on the tumor in the woman to tailor therapy, and research addressing this question is in progress. Also, breast cancer researchers are using this "preoperative model" to test newer drugs to see if they are active in order to decide how to prioritize the many drugs under development for testing in breast cancer.

Q: What are some additional issues in breast cancer that require more attention or research?

Enormous progress has been made in all aspects of breast cancer, from risk assessment to prevention to screening to surgery to radiation therapy to drug therapy. This has led to a decrease in deaths from breast cancer in the United States. But our knowledge is imperfect in all of these areas. We are at a pivotal time to harness our understanding of breast cancer biology to improve all aspects of diagnosis and treatment in a way that takes into account the nature of the tumor and the woman to tailor therapy. Our ultimate goal is to provide the most effective and least toxic therapy to each individual woman.

Q: What are some important messages about breast cancer for patients?

Breast cancer deaths are dropping thanks to advances in screening and therapy. As a result, many women who receive a diagnosis of breast cancer will get state-of-the-art therapy and move forward with their lives. These advances are the result of a substantial investment in laboratory and clinical research. All of us—patients, health care providers, and researchers—need to work to maintain this momentum in scientific discovery and application to minimize the burden of breast cancer.

Dr. Davidson is a breast cancer oncologist at the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins, Baltimore, Md. She is the 2007-2008 ASCO president and a member of the 2007 Breast Cancer Symposium Program Committee.

More Information

2007 Breast Cancer Symposium

Cancer.Net Guide to Breast Cancer