🌸 Breast Cancer — 2026-W37

What this page is. Every paper the week's monitor reviewed — including the ones that did not go into the digest. Material marked “Not selected” was reviewed and deliberately left out. It has not been fact-checked to digest standard and is not endorsed. For the curated read, see the digest itself.

Phase 3 randomized trial in stage II-III triple-negative breast cancer, published in Nature Medicine. Adding atezolizumab to neoadjuvant chemotherapy did not significantly improve event-free survival overall, though exploratory subgroup and biomarker analyses suggest potential benefit in node-positive or immune-activated basal-like tumors, informing future patient selection strategies.

Phase 3 randomized trial in JAMA Oncology testing neoadjuvant anbenitamab plus HB1801 (novel anti-HER2 antibody and albumin-bound taxane) versus standard trastuzumab/pertuzumab/docetaxel in stage II-III HER2-positive breast cancer. Could redefine neoadjuvant standard of care if pathologic complete response benefit is confirmed without added toxicity.

Narrative review in JAMA Oncology on systemic therapy decision-making for older adults with early-stage breast cancer, covering chemotherapy, CDK4/6 inhibitors, and neoadjuvant immunotherapy. Offers guidance to balance overtreatment and undertreatment risks in this underrepresented population.

Cross-sectional claims-based analysis of women with germline pathogenic variants in breast cancer susceptibility genes, published in JCO Precision Oncology. Shows low uptake of risk-reducing surgery, breast MRI, and pancreatic screening, highlighting gaps in guideline-concordant management after genetic testing.

Narrative review examining whether carboplatin remains necessary in (neo)adjuvant regimens for HER2-positive early breast cancer, published in European Journal of Cancer. Argues against routine unselected use of carboplatin, favoring biomarker-driven (e.g., HER2DX) patient selection, which could refine treatment de-escalation strategies.

Retrospective development/validation study using a large EHR-based real-world dataset to build a prognostic model predicting near-term mortality in metastatic breast cancer, published in JCO Oncology Practice. Could help oncologists identify patients likely to benefit from timely transition to end-of-life supportive care.

Large retrospective nationwide cohort study (JAMA Network Open) examining whether breast radiotherapy laterality affects ischemic heart disease risk according to baseline cardiovascular risk burden. Informs survivorship risk stratification for cardiac monitoring after breast cancer radiotherapy.

Multicentre retrospective cohort of bone-only HR+/HER2- metastatic breast cancer patients on CDK4/6 inhibitors, published in Eur J Cancer, identifying baseline predictors of conversion to visceral disease. Highlights progesterone receptor expression as a stable prognostic marker, potentially informing risk-based monitoring rather than treatment selection.

Multi-omics/radiomics study developing an MRI-based signature to non-invasively predict tertiary lymphoid structure status in breast cancer, published in J Immunother Cancer. Identifies an IDO1+ dendritic cell immune axis but does not link the biomarker to a specific therapeutic decision with clinical outcome data, limiting immediate practice impact.

Retrospective translational analysis within the phase 3 SUCCESS-A trial evaluating post-treatment ctDNA detection via a tissue-free epigenomic assay in early-stage breast cancer, published in JCO Precision Oncology. Shows ctDNA positivity strongly predicts subsequent distant recurrence and worse survival, supporting its prognostic value though not yet a specific treatment-selection tool.