title: Advances in chemical pharmacotherapy to manage advanced breast cancer.
abstract: Advanced breast cancer is still incurable. However, patients diagnosed with this fatal disease live longer. The selection of systemic therapy is mainly based on molecular subtype. The aim of management in these patients is to not only improve outcome, but also to maintain quality of life. Areas covered: In this paper we focus on available treatments and drugs under late development in the three main subtypes of breast cancer: luminal (hormone receptor positive), HER2 positive and triple negative disease. Main advances during the last years have been made in the treatment of HER2 positive breast cancer with the approval of several new targeted agents. Luminal breast cancer is also a field of active clinical research. So far triple negative breast cancer remains the subtype with the worse prognosis, even though new discoveries have been made to better understand the huge heterogeneity of this type of breast cancer. Expert opinion: Several new treatment options have recently been established in metastatic breast cancer. Side effects are sometimes cumbersome for the patient and are difficult to manage easily. Thus, identification of patients who derive the most benefit is needed. In addition, collaborative efforts should integrate the genotypic fragmentation in the management and future clinical research strategies of metastatic breast cancer patients.
authors.affiliation: a Medical Oncology Clinic, Institut Jules Bordet , Université Libre de Bruxelles , Brussels , Belgium.
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gombos
authors.affiliation: a Medical Oncology Clinic, Institut Jules Bordet , Université Libre de Bruxelles , Brussels , Belgium.
authors.forename: Ahmad
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Awada
mesh_terms: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D011788:Quality of Life; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases / Q000378:metabolism; D064726:Triple Negative Breast Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases
keywords: Metastatic breast cancer; new treatments; targeted therapies