Breast Cancer: Current Developments in Molecular Approaches to Diagnosis and Treatment

Title:Breast Cancer: Current Developments in Molecular Approaches to Diagnosis and Treatment

Volume: 9 Issue: 2

Author(s): Jo-Anne de la Mare, Lara Contu, Morgan C. Hunter, Buhle Moyo, Jason N. Sterrenberg, Karim C.H. Dhanani, Lorraine Z. Mutsvunguma and Adrienne L. Edkins

Affiliation:

Keywords: Breast cancer, cancer stem cells, chemotherapy, classification, prognosis, screening.

Abstract: Due to the high heterogeneity of breast cancers, numerous recent patents describe improved methods of detection and classification which promise better patient prognosis and treatment. In particular, there has been a shift towards more effective genetic screening to identify specific mutations associated with breast tumours, which may lead to “personalised medicine” with improved outcomes. Two challenging areas of breast cancer research involve the development of treatments for the highly aggressive triple negative breast cancer subtype as well as the chemotherapy-resistant cancer stem cell subpopulation. In addition, despite numerous recent advances in breast cancer treatment in woman, male breast cancer remains poorly understood and there are limited therapies available which are developed specifically for men. This review serves to report on important developments in the treatment of breast malignancies patented in the past two years as well as to highlight the current gaps in the field of breast cancer therapeutics and areas which require further study.

Cite this article as:

la Mare de Jo-Anne, Contu Lara, Hunter C. Morgan, Moyo Buhle, Sterrenberg N. Jason, Dhanani C.H. Karim, Mutsvunguma Z. Lorraine and Edkins L. Adrienne, Breast Cancer: Current Developments in Molecular Approaches to Diagnosis and Treatment, Recent Patents on Anti-Cancer Drug Discovery 2014; 9 (2) . https://dx.doi.org/10.2174/15748928113086660046