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Breast Cancers Treatments: Overcoming Drug Resistance

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Eswar Shankar

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

Medical Oncology Division, Department of Internal Medicine, Wexner Medical Center, Ohio State University, 420 W 12th Ave, Columbus, OH 43210, USA
Interests: triple-negative breast cancers; hormone-receptor-positive breast cancers; drug resistance; dormancy; metastasis

Dr. Balaji Chandrasekaran

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

Rangel College of Pharmacy, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, USA
Interests: oncogenes; drug combinations; biomarkers

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Despite progress in breast cancer treatment, a considerable problem facing clinicians is the development of drug resistance. Therefore, it is very important to elucidate the several molecular pathways leading to drug resistance that metastatic breast cancer orchestrates. Hence, investigating the molecular mechanisms involved in drug resistance is necessary to reduce the adverse effects of treatment and develop new strategies for improving diagnosis and prognosis, which could result in a better response to therapy. The goal of this Special Issue is to help develop a better understanding of the signaling pathways and cross talks that underly the different intracellular responses. This will assist in devising specific interventions to abrogate or inhibit the signaling mechanisms involved in causing resistance to therapy in various subtypes of breast cancers.

The scope of this Special Issue provides a platform to all researchers in the field of breast cancer to present their work in elucidating the mechanisms that lead to drug resistance, as well as the drugs or combinations of drugs that are under development to address this resistant mechanism. The research could encompass basic and translational studies involving various bio-informatic avenues confirmed by wet lab experiments. It is preferable that the proposed work addresses mechanisms with novel approaches, which could result in clinical trials leading to therapy. The work could involve genetic, epigenetic, genomic, or proteomic studies that are well substituted and complemented by confirmatory experiments with statistical significance.

Dr. Eswar Shankar
Dr. Balaji Chandrasekaran
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

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Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

breast cancer
oncogene
drug repurposing
combination treatments
epigenetics
molecular docking
genomic and proteomic analysis
tumor suppressors
histone tri methylation
signaling pathways

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

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12 pages, 1319 KiB

Open AccessCommunication

Clinical Experience with Abemaciclib in Patients Previously Treated with Another CDK 4/6 Inhibitor in a Tertiary Hospital: A Case Series Study

by Alicia Milagros de Luna Aguilar, Javier David Benitez Fuentes, Justo Ortega Anselmi, Jennifer Olalla Inoa, Paloma Flores Navarro, Alfonso Lopez de Sá, Jesus Fuentes Antras, Cristina Rodríguez Rey, Aída Ortega Candil, Fernando Moreno Antón and Jose Ángel García Sáenz

Cancers 2023, 15(18), 4452; https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers15184452 - 7 Sep 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1345

Abstract

The three approved cyclin-dependent kinase 4/6 (CDK4/6) inhibitors, including abemaciclib, have shown differences in their preclinical, pharmacological, and clinical data. Abemaciclib stands out for its broader target range and more rapid and intense activity. It has demonstrated efficacy as a monotherapy or in combination with tamoxifen in endocrine-refractory metastatic breast cancer (MBC) patients with prior chemotherapy. However, the clinical data on abemaciclib after exposure to previous CDK4/6 inhibitors are limited. In this single-center retrospective case series, we identified all patients who received abemaciclib until February 2022 after experiencing documented progression on palbociclib or ribociclib. The safety profile and clinical outcomes of abemaciclib treatment in this specific patient cohort were evaluated. Eleven patients were included in this retrospective case series, nine receiving abemaciclib with tamoxifen. Eight patients had visceral involvement, and the median age was 69 (ranging from 42 to 84). The median time from the end of prior CDK4/6 inhibitor treatment to abemaciclib initiation was 17.5 months (ranging from 3 to 41 months). Patients had undergone a median of three prior therapies (ranging from 1 to 7), including chemotherapy in 54.5% of cases. The median follow-up time was six months (ranging from 1 to 22 months). The median progression-free survival (PFS) was 8 months (95% CI 3.9–12). Five patients continued abemaciclib treatment, and one patient with liver metastases achieved a complete hepatic response. The most common adverse events were diarrhea (72.7%, no grade ≥ 3) and asthenia (27.3%, no grade ≥ 3). Our preliminary findings suggest that abemaciclib could be an effective and safe treatment option for MBC patients who have previously received palbociclib or ribociclib. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Breast Cancers Treatments: Overcoming Drug Resistance)

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Review

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27 pages, 2669 KiB

Open AccessReview

Preclinical and Basic Research Strategies for Overcoming Resistance to Targeted Therapies in HER2-Positive Breast Cancer

by Yi Cao, Yunjin Li, Ruijie Liu, Jianhua Zhou and Kuansong Wang

Cancers 2023, 15(9), 2568; https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers15092568 - 30 Apr 2023

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2036

Abstract

The amplification of epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) is associated with a poor prognosis and HER2 gene is overexpressed in approximately 15–30% of breast cancers. In HER2-positive breast cancer patients, HER2-targeted therapies improved clinical outcomes and survival rates. However, drug resistance to anti-HER2 drugs is almost unavoidable, leaving some patients with an unmet need for better prognoses. Therefore, exploring strategies to delay or revert drug resistance is urgent. In recent years, new targets and regimens have emerged continuously. This review discusses the fundamental mechanisms of drug resistance in the targeted therapies of HER2-positive breast cancer and summarizes recent research progress in this field, including preclinical and basic research studies. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Breast Cancers Treatments: Overcoming Drug Resistance)

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