The Impact of Translational Research in Breast Cancer Care: Can we Improve the Therapeutic Scenario?

Title:The Impact of Translational Research in Breast Cancer Care: Can we Improve the Therapeutic Scenario?

Volume: 18 Issue: 6

Author(s): Giuseppe Buono*, Francesco Schettini, Francesco Perri*, Grazia Arpino, Roberto Bianco, Carmen Criscitiello, Sabino De Placido and Mario Giuliano

Affiliation:

• Medical Oncology and Surgery, University of Naples ,Italy

• San Giuseppe Moscati Hospital, Taranto,Italy

Keywords: Breast cancer, translational research, liquid biopsy, personalized treatment, IHC, HER2.

Abstract: Traditionally, breast cancer (BC) is divided into different subtypes defined by immunohistochemistry (IHC) according to the expression of hormone receptors and overexpression/amplification of human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2), with crucial therapeutic implications. In the last few years, the definition of different BC molecular subgroups within the IHC-defined subtypes and the identification of the important role that molecular heterogeneity can play in tumor progression and treatment resistance have inspired the search for personalized therapeutic approaches. In this scenario, translational research represents a key strategy to apply knowledge from cancer biology to the clinical setting, through the study of all the tumors “omics”, including genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, epigenomics, and metabolomics. Importantly, the introduction of new high-throughput technologies, such as next generation sequencing (NGS) for the study of cancer genome and transcriptome, greatly amplifies the potential and the applications of translational research in the oncology field. Moreover, the introduction of new experimental approaches, such as liquid biopsy, as well as new-concept clinical trials, such as biomarker-driven adaptive studies, may represent a turning point for BC translational research.

It is likely that translational research will have in the near future a significant impact on BC care, especially by giving us the possibility to dissect the complexity of tumor cell biology and develop new personalized treatment strategies.

Cite this article as:

Buono Giuseppe*, Schettini Francesco, Perri Francesco*, Arpino Grazia, Bianco Roberto, Criscitiello Carmen, De Placido Sabino and Giuliano Mario, The Impact of Translational Research in Breast Cancer Care: Can we Improve the Therapeutic Scenario?, Anti-Cancer Agents in Medicinal Chemistry 2018; 18 (6) . https://dx.doi.org/10.2174/1871520617666171103105247