News from the Advanced Breast Cancer Third International Consensus Conference (ABC3)

Abstract

Muller: From a theoretical point of view this wish is understandable. All human beings have this wish from the state of birth, but life has its own unpredictable rules. Up to now we cannot cure metastatic breast cancer with only a few exceptions, i.e. patients with isolated bone metastasis or other isolated visceral metastasis. Therefore, one has to define the therapeutic goal very carefully together with the patient prior to planning the therapy. The balance between treatment efficacy and side effects depends on the discussed goals of the patients which need to be carefully integrated into the treatment strategy in the short and the long run. At the Advanced Breast Cancer Third International Consensus Conference (ABC3) that was held from November 7th to 9th, 2015 in Lisbon, experts from 71 countries discussed the latest results of innovative clinical trials in advanced breast cancer (ABC). More than 1,200 international breast cancer specialists attended the meeting. The main focus of this year’s meeting was on patient reported outcomes (PROs). Patients’ advocates were among the main contributors to the presentations. In HER2 negative metastatic breast cancer, no relevant prolongation of overall survival has been achieved in the last 10–20 years. Intensive-dose chemotherapy regimens, especially in first line, do not lead to additional survival benefits in comparison to conservative, more quality of life-oriented induction therapies. Therefore it seems even more important to optimize PRO-oriented therapy strategies for ABC patients. ABC3 focused on this strategy, presenting data related to PROs and quality of life. Besides this main topic, the second most important focus based on innovative strategies related to different possibilities to use signal transduction inhibitors, ranging from external cell receptor blockade, to PI3K and mTOR inhibitors, to the new class of CDK4/6 inhibitors. This completely new therapeutic direction varies in toxicity and efficacy according to the level of inhibition. In this discussion of specialists for ABC in internal and gynecological oncology, we will focus on details regarding treatment strategies, PROs, and new therapeutic compounds. Published online: December 15, 2015