Tiffany A. Traina, MD

Targeting alternative steroid receptors in triple negative breast cancer.

Impact

Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) refers to a diverse group of breast cancers that lack the typical hormone receptors found in most breast cancers, estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor, as well as the HER2 protein—and are thus not candidates for endocrine or anti-HER2 therapies. The standard of care for TNBC remains chemotherapy-based treatment. In search of other therapeutic targets, studies found that 12 to 50 percent of TNBC harbor the androgen receptor (AR) or signs of AR activation. When AR-positive TNBC recurs they are likely to also have high levels of the glucocorticoid receptor (GR), which may work with AR to drive tumor growth. With this information, Drs. Tiffany Traina and Rita Nanda, and their teams designed a clinical trial to test the use of AR and GR-targeting drugs on patient with AR-positive, metastatic TNBC.

Progress Thus Far

The study is now open at MSKCC and will be followed by University of Chicago and other collaborating sites throughout the Translational Breast Cancer Research Consortium—a consortium of leading academic clinical sites across the United States.

What’s next

The study will ultimately enroll 201 patients. It will assess the ability of the AR-targeting enzalutamide alone or in combination with a GR-targeting agent, mifepristone, to extend progression free survival when compared with chemotherapy.