title: The AURORA initiative for metastatic breast cancer.
abstract: Metastatic breast cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer-related mortality among women in the Western world. To date most research efforts have focused on the molecular analysis of the primary tumour to dissect the genotypes of the disease. However, accumulating evidence supports a molecular evolution of breast cancer during its life cycle, with metastatic lesions acquiring new molecular aberrations. Recognising this critical gap of knowledge, the Breast International Group is launching AURORA, a large, multinational, collaborative metastatic breast cancer molecular screening programme. Approximately 1300 patients with metastatic breast cancer who have received no more than one line of systemic treatment for advanced disease will, after giving informed consent, donate archived primary tumour tissue, as well as will donate tissue collected prospectively from the biopsy of metastatic lesions and blood. Both tumour tissue types, together with a blood sample, will then be subjected to next generation sequencing for a panel of cancer-related genes. The patients will be treated at the discretion of their treating physicians per standard local practice, and they will be followed for clinical outcome for 10 years. Alternatively, depending on the molecular profiles found, patients will be directed to innovative clinical trials assessing molecularly targeted agents. Samples of outlier patients considered as 'exceptional responders' or as 'rapid progressors' based on the clinical follow-up will be subjected to deeper molecular characterisation in order to identify new prognostic and predictive biomarkers. AURORA, through its innovative design, will shed light onto some of the unknown areas of metastatic breast cancer, helping to improve the clinical outcome of breast cancer patients.
authors.affiliation: 1] Breast International Group Headquarters (BIG-aisbl), Brussels, Belgium [2] Institut Jules Bordet, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Zardavas
authors.affiliation: 1] Breast International Group Headquarters (BIG-aisbl), Brussels, Belgium [2] Breast Cancer Translational Research Laboratory - J.C. Heuson, Institut Jules Bordet, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Maetens
authors.affiliation: Breast International Group Headquarters (BIG-aisbl), Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Irrthum
authors.affiliation: Breast International Group Headquarters (BIG-aisbl), Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Goulioti
authors.affiliation: Breast International Group Headquarters (BIG-aisbl), Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Engelen
authors.affiliation: 1] Breast International Group Headquarters (BIG-aisbl), Brussels, Belgium [2] Breast Cancer Translational Research Laboratory - J.C. Heuson, Institut Jules Bordet, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Fumagalli
authors.affiliation: Breast International Group Headquarters (BIG-aisbl), Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Salgado
authors.affiliation: Institut Jules Bordet, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Aftimos
authors.affiliation: Breast International Group Headquarters (BIG-aisbl), Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: K S
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Saini
authors.affiliation: Breast Cancer Translational Research Laboratory - J.C. Heuson, Institut Jules Bordet, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Sotiriou
authors.affiliation: Cancer Genome Project, Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Hinxton, UK.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Campbell
authors.affiliation: Medical Oncology, Nepean Hospital, Penrith, NSW, Australia.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Dinh
authors.affiliation: Breast International Group Executive Board.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: von Minckwitz
authors.affiliation: Breast International Group Executive Board.
authors.forename: R D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Gelber
authors.affiliation: Breast International Group Executive Board.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dowsett
authors.affiliation: Breast International Group Executive Board.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Di Leo
authors.affiliation: Breast International Group Executive Board.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Cameron
authors.affiliation: Breast International Group Executive Board.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Baselga
authors.affiliation: Breast International Group Executive Board.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gnant
authors.affiliation: Breast International Group Executive Board.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Goldhirsch
authors.affiliation: Breast Cancer Medicine Service, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Norton
authors.affiliation: 1] Breast International Group Headquarters (BIG-aisbl), Brussels, Belgium [2] Institut Jules Bordet, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium [3] Breast International Group Executive Board.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Piccart
mesh_terms: D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000235:genetics*; D055088:Early Detection of Cancer; D005260:Female; D059014:High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing; D006801:Humans; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins / Q000097:blood / Q000235:genetics*; D011379:Prognosis
chemical_list: D009363:Neoplasm Proteins