Scholars@Duke
Alexandra Thomas

Alexandra Thomas

Professor of Medicine
Medicine, Medical Oncology
40 Duke Medicine Circle, Clinic 2-2, Durham, NC 27710
40 Duke Medicine Circle, Clinic 2-2, Durham, NC 27710

Selected Publications

Pathologic complete response (pCR) rates for patients with HR+/HER2- high-risk, early-stage breast cancer (EBC) by clinical and molecular features in the phase II I-SPY2 clinical trial.

Journal Article Ann Oncol · October 28, 2024 BACKGROUND: Hormone receptor-positive (HR+), human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-negative early-stage breast cancer (EBC) is a heterogenous disease. Identification of better clinical and molecular biomarkers is essential to guide optimal therap ... Full text Link to item Cite

Further Optimizing Care of Patients With Operable Hormone Receptor-Sensitive Breast Cancer.

Journal Article J Clin Oncol · October 9, 2024 Harmonized global collaborations are crucial to improving outcomes in hormone sensitive operable breast cancer. ... Full text Link to item Cite

Correction to: TrkA Interacts with and Phosphorylates STAT3 to Enhance Gene Transcription and Promote Breast Cancer Stem Cells in Triple-Negative and HER2-Enriched Breast Cancers (Cancers, (2021), 13, 10, (2340), 10.3390/cancers13102340)

Journal Article Cancers · October 1, 2024 In the original publication [1], there was a mistake in Figure 2D. IP-WB of recombinant human TrkA and STAT3 following a cell-free TrkA kinase assay as published. In the original experiment, the Western blot was performed with one membrane probed for STAT3 ... Full text Cite

Datopotamab-deruxtecan plus durvalumab in early-stage breast cancer: the sequential multiple assignment randomized I-SPY2.2 phase 2 trial.

Journal Article Nat Med · September 14, 2024 Sequential adaptive trial designs can help accomplish the goals of personalized medicine, optimizing outcomes and avoiding unnecessary toxicity. Here we describe the results of incorporating a promising antibody-drug conjugate, datopotamab-deruxtecan (Dato ... Full text Link to item Cite

Datopotamab-deruxtecan in early-stage breast cancer: the sequential multiple assignment randomized I-SPY2.2 phase 2 trial.

Journal Article Nat Med · September 14, 2024 Among the goals of patient-centric care are the advancement of effective personalized treatment, while minimizing toxicity. The phase 2 I-SPY2.2 trial uses a neoadjuvant sequential therapy approach in breast cancer to further these goals, testing promising ... Full text Link to item Cite

Impact of Anti-Estrogen Therapy on Early Cardiovascular Referrals, Tests and Medications in Premenopausal Women with Operable Breast Cancer.

Journal Article Clin Breast Cancer · June 2024 INTRODUCTION: Premenopausal women with high-risk hormone receptor (HR)-positive breast cancer often receive ovarian function suppression (OFS) and anti-estrogen therapy which induces near complete estrogen deprivation (NCED). This treatment improves recurr ... Full text Link to item Cite

Cardiovascular impact of near complete estrogen deprivation in premenopausal women with breast cancer: The CROWN study.

Journal Article Am Heart J · January 2024 Survival with operable breast cancer has improved markedly in recent decades, however, treatment-related cardiovascular toxicities threaten to offset these gains. Ovarian function suppression paired with aromatase inhibition, for premenopausal women with h ... Full text Link to item Cite

Cultural and linguistic adaptation of a telephone-based cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) intervention to treat depression and anxiety in Hispanic cancer survivors.

Journal Article J Psychosoc Oncol · 2024 PURPOSE/OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to transcreate a manualized cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) intervention to address depression and anxiety among Hispanic cancer survivors. DESIGN/RESEARCH APPROACH: Stakeholders reviewed the CBT workboo ... Full text Link to item Cite

Metaplastic Breast Cancer: Current Understanding and Future Directions.

Journal Article Clin Breast Cancer · December 2023 Metaplastic breast cancers (MBC) encompass a group of highly heterogeneous tumors which share the ability to differentiate into squamous, mesenchymal or neuroectodermal components. While often termed rare breast tumors, given the relatively high prevalence ... Full text Link to item Cite

Climate Change and Cancer Care-Feeling the Heat.

Journal Article JAMA Oncol · November 1, 2023 Full text Link to item Cite

Rare subtypes of triple negative breast cancer: Current understanding and future directions.

Journal Article NPJ Breast Cancer · June 23, 2023 Rare subtypes of triple-negative breast cancers (TNBC) are a heterogenous group of tumors, comprising 5-10% of all TNBCs. Despite accounting for an absolute number of cases in aggregate approaching that of other less common, but well studied solid tumors, ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

Simultaneous Detection of Multiple Tumor-targeted Gold Nanoparticles in HER2-Positive Breast Tumors Using Optoacoustic Imaging.

Journal Article Radiol Imaging Cancer · May 2023 Purpose To develop optoacoustic, spectrally distinct, actively targeted gold nanoparticle-based near-infrared probes (trastuzumab [TRA], TRA-Aurelia-1, and TRA-Aurelia-2) that can be individually identifiable at multispectral optoacoustic tomography (MSOT) ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

Abstract P1-12-01: Impact of Anti-Estrogen Therapy on Early Vascular Referrals, Tests and Medications in Premenopausal Women with Operable Breast Cancer

Journal Article Cancer Research · March 1, 2023 AbstractIntroduction: Premenopausal women with high-risk hormone receptor-positive (HR+) breast cancer (BC) undergo abrupt menopause induction with anti-estrogen therapy (AE) and ovarian function suppression ... Full text Cite

Expanding access to early phase trials: the CATCH-UP.2020 experience.

Journal Article JNCI Cancer Spectr · January 3, 2023 BACKGROUND: Disparities in cancer outcomes persist for underserved populations; one important aspect of this is limited access to promising early phase clinical trials. To address this, the National Cancer Institute-funded Create Access to Targeted Cancer ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

Reproducibility assessment of a biomechanical model-based elasticity imaging method for identifying changes in left ventricular mechanical stiffness.

Journal Article J Med Imaging (Bellingham) · September 2022 PURPOSE: Cardiotoxicity of antineoplastic therapies is increasingly a risk to cancer patients treated with curative intent with years of life to protect. Studies highlight the importance of identifying early cardiac decline in cancer patients undergoing ca ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

An FDA-Approved Antifungal, Ketoconazole, and Its Novel Derivative Suppress tGLI1-Mediated Breast Cancer Brain Metastasis by Inhibiting the DNA-Binding Activity of Brain Metastasis-Promoting Transcription Factor tGLI1.

Journal Article Cancers (Basel) · August 31, 2022 The goal of this study is to identify pharmacological inhibitors that target a recently identified novel mediator of breast cancer brain metastasis (BCBM), truncated glioma-associated oncogene homolog 1 (tGLI1). Inhibitors of tGLI1 are not yet available. T ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

Creating and Implementing a Principal Investigator Tool Kit for Enhancing Accrual to Late Phase Clinical Trials: Development and Usability Study.

Journal Article JMIR Cancer · August 25, 2022 BACKGROUND: Accrual to oncology clinical trials remains a challenge, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. For late phase clinical trials funded by the National Cancer Institute, the development of these research protocols is a resource-intensive proc ... Full text Link to item Cite

Breast cancer extracellular vesicles-derived miR-1290 activates astrocytes in the brain metastatic microenvironment via the FOXA2→CNTF axis to promote progression of brain metastases.

Journal Article Cancer Lett · August 1, 2022 Mechanisms underlying breast cancer brain metastasis (BCBM) are still unclear. In this study, we observed that extracellular vesicles (EVs) secreted from breast cancer cells with increased expression of tGLI1, a BCBM-promoting transcription factor, strongl ... Full text Link to item Cite

Dynamic characterization of breast cancer response to neoadjuvant therapy using biophysical metrics of spatial proliferation.

Journal Article Sci Rep · July 9, 2022 Current tools to assess breast cancer response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy cannot reliably predict disease eradication, which if possible, could allow early cessation of therapy. In this work, we assessed the ability of an image data-driven mathematical mo ... Full text Link to item Cite

Abstract 482: Assessing myocardial stiffness changes in a non-human primate anthracycline-induced cardiotoxicity model utilizing a biomechanical elasticity imaging methodology

Journal Article Cancer Research · June 15, 2022 AbstractScope: Anthracyclines are a routine regimen for adjuvant therapy of breast cancer, but pose dose-dependent cardiotoxicity risks. With breast cancer diagnoses trending younger, there is a critical nee ... Full text Cite

Delivery of an ectonucleotidase inhibitor with ROS-responsive nanoparticles overcomes adenosine-mediated cancer immunosuppression.

Journal Article Sci Transl Med · June 8, 2022 Tumor evasion of immune destruction is associated with the production of immunosuppressive adenosine in the tumor microenvironment (TME). Anticancer therapies can trigger adenosine triphosphate (ATP) release from tumor cells, causing rapid formation of ade ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

Late Recurrence Following Early Breast Cancer.

Journal Article J Clin Oncol · May 1, 2022 The Oncology Grand Rounds series is designed to place original reports published in the Journal into clinical context. A case presentation is followed by a description of diagnostic and management challenges, a review of the relevant literature, and a summ ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

Therapeutic Targeting of Minimal Residual Disease to Prevent Late Recurrence in Hormone-Receptor Positive Breast Cancer: Challenges and New Approaches

Journal Article Frontiers in Oncology · February 10, 2022 While the majority of breast cancers are diagnosed at a curable stage, approximately 20% of women will experience recurrence at a distant site during their lifetime. These metastatic recurrences are incurable with current therapeutic approaches. Over the p ... Full text Cite

Differential expression of microRNA between triple negative breast cancer patients of African American and European American descent.

Journal Article Biotech Histochem · January 2022 There are racial disparities in the outcome of triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) patients between women of African ancestry and women of European ancestry, even after accounting for lifestyle, socioeconomic and clinical factors. MicroRNA (miRNA) are non ... Full text Link to item Cite

Bulk and Single-Cell Profiling of Breast Tumors Identifies TREM-1 as a Dominant Immune Suppressive Marker Associated With Poor Outcomes

Journal Article Frontiers in Oncology · December 8, 2021 Background: Triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells (TREM)-1 is a key mediator of innate immunity previously associated with the severity of inflammatory disorders, and more recently, the inferior survival of lung and liver cancer patients. Here, we ... Full text Cite

Inhibiting Fatty Acid Synthase with Omeprazole to Improve Efficacy of Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy in Patients with Operable TNBC.

Journal Article Clin Cancer Res · November 1, 2021 PURPOSE: Fatty acid synthase (FASN) is overexpressed in 70% of operable triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) and is associated with poor prognosis. Proton pump inhibitors selectively inhibit FASN activity and induce apoptosis in TNBC cell lines. PATIENTS A ... Full text Link to item Cite

E2112: Randomized Phase III Trial of Endocrine Therapy Plus Entinostat or Placebo in Hormone Receptor-Positive Advanced Breast Cancer. A Trial of the ECOG-ACRIN Cancer Research Group.

Journal Article J Clin Oncol · October 1, 2021 PURPOSE: Endocrine therapy resistance in advanced breast cancer remains a significant clinical problem that may be overcome with the use of histone deacetylase inhibitors such as entinostat. The ENCORE301 phase II study reported improvement in progression- ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

Developing a biomechanical model-based elasticity imaging method for assessing hormone receptor positive breast cancer treatment-related myocardial stiffness changes.

Journal Article J Med Imaging (Bellingham) · September 2021 Purpose: Assessing cardiotoxicity as a result of breast cancer therapeutics is increasingly important as breast cancer diagnoses are trending younger and overall survival is increasing. With evidence showing that prevention of cardiotoxicity plays a signif ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

A Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy Trial for Early Breast Cancer is Impacted by COVID-19: Addressing Vaccination and Cancer Trials Through Education, Equity, and Outcomes.

Journal Article Clin Cancer Res · August 15, 2021 While COVID-19 vaccine distribution has addressed vulnerabilities related to age and comorbidities, there is a need to ensure vaccination of patients with cancer receiving experimental and routine treatment, where interruption of treatment by infection is ... Full text Link to item Cite

Myocardial Function in Premenopausal Women Treated With Ovarian Function Suppression and an Aromatase Inhibitor.

Journal Article JNCI Cancer Spectr · August 2021 BACKGROUND: Premenopausal women with high-risk hormone receptor (HR)-positive breast cancer often receive ovarian function suppression (OFS) with aromatase inhibitor therapy; however, abrupt menopause induction, together with further decrements in estrogen ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

Epidemiology of De Novo Metastatic Breast Cancer.

Journal Article Clin Breast Cancer · August 2021 Most cases of metastatic breast cancer (MBC) arise as a recurrence of a previously treated early breast cancer. Distinct from recurrent MBC is de novo MBC (dnMBC), which describes patients who present with distant sites of disease at initial diagnosis and ... Full text Link to item Cite

Durvalumab with olaparib and paclitaxel for high-risk HER2-negative stage II/III breast cancer: Results from the adaptively randomized I-SPY2 trial.

Journal Article Cancer Cell · July 12, 2021 The combination of PD-L1 inhibitor durvalumab and PARP inhibitor olaparib added to standard paclitaxel neoadjuvant chemotherapy (durvalumab/olaparib/paclitaxel [DOP]) was investigated in the phase II I-SPY2 trial of stage II/III HER2-negative breast cancer ... Full text Link to item Cite

Phase I Study of Muscadine Grape Extract for Patients With Advanced Cancer.

Journal Article Am J Clin Oncol · June 1, 2021 OBJECTIVE: Preclinical studies with muscadine grape extract (MGE) show antitumor activity and decreased systemic inflammation. This phase I study (NCT02583269) assessed safety and tolerability of a proprietary MGE preparation in patients with advanced soli ... Full text Link to item Cite

Trka interacts with and phosphorylates stat3 to enhance gene transcription and promote breast cancer stem cells in triple-negative and her2-enriched breast cancers

Journal Article Cancers · May 2, 2021 JAK2–STAT3 and TrkA signaling pathways have been separately implicated in aggressive breast cancers; however, whether they are co-activated or undergo functional interaction has not been thoroughly investigated. Herein we report, for the first time that ST ... Full text Cite

Diabetes, Obesity, and Inflammation: Impact on Clinical and Radiographic Features of Breast Cancer.

Journal Article Int J Mol Sci · March 9, 2021 Obesity, diabetes, and inflammation increase the risk of breast cancer, the most common malignancy in women. One of the mainstays of breast cancer treatment and improving outcomes is early detection through imaging-based screening. There may be a role for ... Full text Link to item Cite

The relationship between abdominal fat and change in left ventricular ejection fraction in cancer patients

Journal Article Obesity Science and Practice · February 1, 2021 Objectives: Prior studies have identified a relationship between body mass index (BMI) and intraperitoneal (IP) fat with heart failure; however, in prior studies of cancer patients receiving potentially cardiotoxic chemotherapy, elevations in BMI have not ... Full text Cite

Incidence and Survival in Reproductive-Aged Women with Differentiated Thyroid Cancer: United States SEER 18 2000-2016.

Journal Article Thyroid · December 2020 Background: Incidence of differentiated thyroid cancer has increased in the United States and globally with disproportionate increases observed among women. Recent data suggest that factors other than increased detection may underlie this increase. To unde ... Full text Link to item Cite

Combined inhibition of JAK2-STAT3 and SMO-GLI1/tGLI1 pathways suppresses breast cancer stem cells, tumor growth, and metastasis.

Journal Article Oncogene · October 2020 Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) and HER2-positive breast cancer are particularly aggressive and associated with unfavorable prognosis. TNBC lacks effective treatments. HER2-positive tumors have treatment options but often acquire resistance to HER2-ta ... Full text Link to item Cite

Incidence and Survival by Human Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor 2 Status in Young Women With Stage I-III Breast Cancer: SEER, 2010-2016.

Journal Article Clin Breast Cancer · August 2020 BACKGROUND: Young premenopausal women with breast cancer often experience more aggressive disease biology and poorer survival than older women. Diagnostic and therapeutic advances, including human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-directed therapy, ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

Actively targeted nanodelivery of echinomycin induces autophagy-mediated death in chemoresistant pancreatic cancer in vivo

Journal Article Cancers · August 1, 2020 Pancreatic cancer remains a recalcitrant neoplasm associated with chemoresistance and high fatality. Because it is frequently resistant to apoptosis, exploiting autophagic cell death could offer a new treatment approach. We repurpose echinomycin, an antibio ... Full text Cite

Characterization of multicellular breast tumor spheroids using image data-driven biophysical mathematical modeling.

Journal Article Sci Rep · July 14, 2020 Multicellular tumor spheroid (MCTS) systems provide an in vitro cell culture model system which mimics many of the complexities of an in vivo solid tumor and tumor microenvironment, and are often used to study cancer cell growth and drug efficacy. Here, we ... Full text Link to item Cite

Effect at One Year of Adjuvant Trastuzumab for HER2+ Breast Cancer Combined with Radiation or an Anthracycline on Left Ventricular Ejection Fraction.

Journal Article Am J Cardiol · June 15, 2020 To determine the impact of radiation therapy (XRT) in addition to trastuzumab (TZB) adjuvant chemotherapy for HER2+ breast cancer on left ventricular systolic function, we assessed demographics, oncologic treatment history including XRT exposure, and seria ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

What's the Price? Toxicities of Targeted Therapies in Breast Cancer Care.

Journal Article Am Soc Clin Oncol Educ Book · May 2020 Agents with mechanisms novel to breast cancer care have been approved to treat breast cancer. These agents include drugs that target cyclin-dependent kinases, phosphoinositide 3-kinase PI3KCA gene mutations, PARP, checkpoint regulation, and novel antibody- ... Full text Link to item Cite

Neuromuscular ultrasound for taxane peripheral neuropathy in breast cancer.

Journal Article Muscle Nerve · May 2020 BACKGROUND: Our study aim was to evaluate neuromuscular ultrasound (NMUS) for the assessment of taxane chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN), the dose-limiting toxicity of this agent. METHODS: This cross-sectional study of breast cancer patient ... Full text Link to item Cite

Two may be better than one: PD-1/PD-L1 blockade combination approaches in metastatic breast cancer

Journal Article npj Breast Cancer · December 1, 2019 Antibodies blocking programmed death 1 (anti-PD-1) or its ligand (anti-PD-L1) are associated with modest response rates as monotherapy in metastatic breast cancer, but are generally well tolerated and capable of generating dramatic and durable benefit in a ... Full text Cite

Incidence and Survival Among Young Women With Stage I-III Breast Cancer: SEER 2000-2015.

Journal Article JNCI Cancer Spectr · September 2019 BACKGROUND: Although recent findings suggest that de novo stage IV breast cancer is increasing in premenopausal women in the United States, contemporary incidence and survival data are lacking for stage I-III cancer. METHODS: Women aged 20-29 (n = 3826), 3 ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

Ca2+ and CACNA1H mediate targeted suppression of breast cancer brain metastasis by AM RF EMF.

Journal Article EBioMedicine · June 2019 BACKGROUND: Brain metastases are a major cause of death in patients with metastatic breast cancer. While surgical resection and radiation therapy are effective treatment modalities, the majority of patients will succumb from disease progression. We have de ... Full text Link to item Cite

Frequency of Transition From Stage A to Stage B Heart Failure After Initiating Potentially Cardiotoxic Chemotherapy.

Journal Article JACC Heart Fail · December 2018 OBJECTIVES: This study sought to determine the prevalence of American Heart Association/American College of Cardiology Foundation (AHA/ACCF) heart failure (HF) stages after potentially cardiotoxic chemotherapy was initiated. BACKGROUND: For individuals rec ... Full text Link to item Cite

Optoacoustic imaging identifies ovarian cancer using a microenvironment targeted theranostic wormhole mesoporous silica nanoparticle.

Journal Article Biomaterials · November 2018 At the intersection of the newly emerging fields of optoacoustic imaging and theranostic nanomedicine, promising clinical progress can be made in dismal prognosis of ovarian cancer. An acidic pH targeted wormhole mesoporous silica nanoparticle (V7-RUBY) wa ... Full text Link to item Cite

Lobar versus sub-lobar surgery for pulmonary typical carcinoid, a population-based analysis

Journal Article Journal of Thoracic Disease · October 1, 2018 Background: The optimal surgery for resectable pulmonary typical carcinoid (TC), e.g., lobar resection (L-R) vs. sub-lobar resection (SL-R), is controversial. This is further explored in this population-based study. Methods: The Surveillance, Epidemiology, ... Full text Cite

Applying dynamic contrast enhanced MSOT imaging to intratumoral pharmacokinetic modeling

Journal Article Photoacoustics · September 1, 2018 Examining the dynamics of an agent in the tumor microenvironment can offer critical insights to the influx rate and accumulation of the agent. Intratumoral kinetic characterization in the in vivo setting can further elicudate distribution patterns and tumo ... Full text Cite

Impact of vitamin D on pathological complete response and survival following neoadjuvant chemotherapy for breast cancer: a retrospective study.

Journal Article BMC Cancer · July 30, 2018 BACKGROUND: There has been interest in the potential benefit of vitamin D (VD) to improve breast cancer outcomes. Pre-clinical studies suggest VD enhances chemotherapy-induced cell death. Vitamin D deficiency was associated with not attaining a pathologic ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

Phase I study of muscadine grape extract in advanced malignancy.

Conference Journal of Clinical Oncology · May 20, 2018 Full text Cite

Serum Vitamin D Levels Affect Pathologic Complete Response in Patients Undergoing Neoadjuvant Systemic Therapy for Operable Breast Cancer.

Journal Article Clin Breast Cancer · April 2018 INTRODUCTION: There has been increasing interest in the potential benefit of vitamin D in improving breast cancer outcome. Preclinical studies suggest that vitamin D enhances chemotherapy-induced cell death. We investigated the impact of serum vitamin D le ... Full text Link to item Cite

Early and Locally Advanced Metaplastic Breast Cancer: Presentation and Survival by Receptor Status in Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) 2010-2014.

Journal Article Oncologist · April 2018 BACKGROUND: Metaplastic breast cancer (MBC) is a rare disease subtype characterized by an aggressive clinical course. MBC is commonly triple negative (TN), although hormone receptor (HR) positive and human epidermal growth receptor 2 (HER2) positive cases ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

Osteopontin-targeted probe detects orthotopic breast cancers using optoacoustic imaging.

Journal Article Biotech Histochem · 2018 Improved detection of breast cancer using highly sensitive, tumor-specific imaging would facilitate diagnosis, surveillance and assessment of response to treatment. We conjugated osteopontin peptide to an infrared fluorescent dye to serve as a contrast age ... Full text Link to item Cite

Use of non-ionizing electromagnetic fields for the treatment of cancer.

Journal Article Front Biosci (Landmark Ed) · January 1, 2018 Cancer treatment and treatment options are quite limited in circumstances such as when the tumor is inoperable, in brain cancers when the drugs cannot penetrate the blood-brain-barrier, or when there is no tumor-specific target for generation of effective ... Full text Link to item Cite

Tumor mutational burden is a determinant of immune-mediated survival in breast cancer.

Journal Article Oncoimmunology · 2018 Mounting evidence supports a role for the immune system in breast cancer outcomes. The ability to distinguish highly immunogenic tumors susceptible to anti-tumor immunity from weakly immunogenic or inherently immune-resistant tumors would guide development ... Full text Link to item Cite

Potential prognostic markers for survival and neurologic death in patients with breast cancer brain metastases who receive upfront SRS alone

Journal Article Journal of Radiosurgery and SBRT · January 1, 2018 Purpose/Objectives: Stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) is used as a treatment option for breast cancer brain metastases. It is unclear what factors predict neurologic death for these patients. Materials/Methods: A total of 128 patients with breast cancer brai ... Cite

Rapid and Sensitive Detection of Breast Cancer Cells in Patient Blood with Nuclease-Activated Probe Technology

Journal Article Molecular Therapy Nucleic Acids · September 15, 2017 A challenge for circulating tumor cell (CTC)-based diagnostics is the development of simple and inexpensive methods that reliably detect the diverse cells that make up CTCs. CTC-derived nucleases are one category of proteins that could be exploited to meet ... Full text Cite

Incidence, characteristics, and management of recently diagnosed, microscopically invasive breast cancer by receptor status: Iowa SEER 2000 to 2013.

Journal Article Am J Surg · August 2017 BACKGROUND: Recent incidence, treatment patterns, and outcomes for node negative microscopically invasive breast cancer (MIBC) have not been reported. METHODS: State Health Registry of Iowa data identified women with ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), MIBC, ... Full text Link to item Cite

Male Breast Cancer as a Second Primary Cancer: Increased Risk Following Lymphoma.

Journal Article Oncologist · August 2017 BACKGROUND: Male breast cancer (MBC) as a second primary cancer (SPC) has a known association with prior MBC. However, its association with non-breast index malignancies, relative to population risk, has not been previously reported. MATERIALS AND METHODS: ... Full text Link to item Cite

Primary Breast Lymphoma in the United States: 1975-2013.

Journal Article J Natl Cancer Inst · June 1, 2017 BACKGROUND: Primary breast lymphoma (PBL) has gained attention with the description of breast implant-associated anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL). Less is known about PBL incidence, treatment, and survival by lymphoma subtype. METHODS: The Surveillanc ... Full text Link to item Cite

Circulating mutational portrait of cancer: manifestation of aggressive clonal events in both early and late stages.

Journal Article J Hematol Oncol · May 4, 2017 BACKGROUND: Solid tumors residing in tissues and organs leave footprints in circulation through circulating tumor cells (CTCs) and circulating tumor DNAs (ctDNA). Characterization of the ctDNA portraits and comparison with tumor DNA mutational portraits ma ... Full text Link to item Cite

Effect of Body Mass Index- and Actual Weight-Based Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy Doses on Pathologic Complete Response in Operable Breast Cancer.

Journal Article Clin Breast Cancer · December 2016 INTRODUCTION: The effect of body mass index (BMI) and chemotherapy dose reduction on pathologic complete response (pCR) after neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) for locoregional breast cancer remains unclear. Contemporary studies have reported largely on trial ... Full text Link to item Cite

Frequency and Clinical Significance of Extramammary Findings on Breast Magnetic Resonance Imaging.

Journal Article Clin Breast Cancer · October 2016 BACKGROUND: Use of breast magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for screening and local staging of breast cancer has increased. With this, questions have emerged regarding the management and effect of extramammary findings (EMFs) reported on breast MRI. PATIENT ... Full text Link to item Cite

Initial Surgery and Survival in Stage IV Breast Cancer in the United States, 1988-2011.

Journal Article JAMA Surg · May 1, 2016 IMPORTANCE: Management of the primary tumor site in patients with metastatic breast cancer remains controversial. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the patterns of receipt of initial breast surgery for female patients with stage IV breast cancer in the United States, ... Full text Link to item Cite

Surgical Management of Breast Cancer in 2010-2011 SEER Registries by Hormone and HER2 Receptor Status.

Journal Article Ann Surg Oncol · December 2015 BACKGROUND: Although locoregional recurrence is known to affect overall survival for operable breast cancer, the impact of receptor status on locoregional control is debated. Currently, hormone receptor (HR) and human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 (HE ... Full text Link to item Cite

Chemotherapy use and surgical treatment by receptor subtype in node-negative T1a and T1b female breast cancers, Iowa SEER Registry, 2010 to 2012.

Journal Article Clin Breast Cancer · February 2015 BACKGROUND: Patients with small node-negative breast tumors who are younger or who have human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-positive (HER2(+)) or triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) subtypes are at increased risk of recurrence. Concurrently, systemic ... Full text Link to item Cite

Rate of contralateral prophylactic mastectomy is influenced by preoperative MRI recommendations.

Journal Article Ann Surg Oncol · December 2014 BACKGROUND: Women with breast cancer increasingly undergo contralateral prophylactic mastectomy (CPM). We evaluated the relationship between preoperative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings and CPM. Other clinicopathologic variables associated with C ... Full text Link to item Cite

Inhibition of RET increases the efficacy of antiestrogen and is a novel treatment strategy for luminal breast cancer.

Journal Article Clin Cancer Res · April 15, 2014 PURPOSE: Recent findings suggest that combination treatment with antiestrogen and anti-RET may offer a novel treatment strategy in a subset of patients with breast cancer. We investigated the role of RET in potentiating the effects of antiestrogen response ... Full text Link to item Cite

Abstract P2-02-07: Preoperative breast MRI and follow-up recommendations for the contralateral breast influence the rate of contralateral prophylactic mastectomy

Journal Article Cancer Research · December 15, 2013 AbstractBackground: Women with breast cancer increasingly choose to undergo contralateral prophylactic mastectomy (CPM) even as the benefit of this procedure for woman at average risk for breast cancer remai ... Full text Cite

The response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy predicts clinical outcome and increases breast conservation in advanced breast cancer.

Journal Article Am J Surg · July 2013 BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to determine outcomes in patients with breast cancer treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy. METHODS: Seventy-two consecutive patients receiving neoadjuvant chemotherapy for breast cancer were enrolled. RESULTS: Mastect ... Full text Link to item Cite

18-Fluoro-deoxyglucose positron emission tomography report interpretation as predictor of outcome in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma including analysis of 'indeterminate' reports.

Journal Article Leuk Lymphoma · March 2010 This study evaluates the predictive value of post-therapy 18-fluoro-deoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET), including indeterminate studies, following curative-intent therapy in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL). Consecutive patients from ... Full text Link to item Cite

A randomized controlled study comparing educational outcomes of examination room versus conference room staffing.

Journal Article Teach Learn Med · 2008 BACKGROUND: This prospective randomized controlled study examined outpatient clinical teaching in the presence of the patient. METHODS: In 2006, patients in ambulatory internal medicine clinics at the University of Iowa were randomized to have faculty-lear ... Full text Link to item Cite