Background: Dysregulated cellular metabolism is a hallmark of breast cancer, and targeting it has promising implications for improving care and patient outcomes. Specifically, heterogeneity in tumor metabolism is thought to play a role in determining chemotherapy response, the development of…

Background: Breast Cancer (BC) patients exhibit a wide variety of responses to neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT). This is driven by factors both intrinsic (e.g., mutations, dysregulation, metabolic reprogramming) and extrinsic (e.g., nutrient/drug perfusion, interactions with surrounding healthy tissues and the tumor…

Background: Clinical trials can be logistically burdensome, financially expensive, and potentially detrimental to patient outcomes. The NeoSphere study, which investigated the efficacy of docetaxel (T), pertuzumab (P), and trastuzumab (H) in combination with one another, was performed recently over an…

Background: Pathological complete response (pCR) is a well validated endpoint for early-stage breast cancer (EBC) patients treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAT), with a strong correlation with long term outcomes such as event free survival (EFS) and overall survival (OS). However,…

Background: Immunotherapy (IO) is expected to become a part of standard neoadjuvant therapy for early-stage, triple-negative breast cancer. However, only a minority of patients benefit from the addition of IO to standard neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT). Biomarkers of IO response in…

Background: Dynamic contrast-enhanced (DCE) MRI has long been used in the diagnosis and treatment planning of cancers. Chief among its use is the identification of tumors in soft tissues, where the tumor progression-induced angiogenic changes result in leaky vasculature which…

Introduction: Chemotherapy for early stage breast cancer is associated with a plethora of side effects including fatigue, alopecia, neuropathy, cardiotoxicity, myelosuppression, gastrointestinal symptoms, fertility issues, memory impairment, and mouth sores. As a result, a significant number of patients (pts) require…

Background: Racial disparities in breast cancer incidence and clinical outcome have become increasingly recognized. In particular, African American (AA) patients have higher mortality rates than other racial groups. Research into these racial disparities has primarily focused on socioeconomic determinants, with…