The Institut Curie was present at the congress of the European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO) specializing in breast cancer which was held in Berlin from May 15 to 17. Through the presentation of original results and the presence of experts at educational sessions as well as symposia, the Institut Curie reaffirms its place at the forefront of European oncology.
The development of alternative treatments to chemotherapy, the use of local estrogens after breast cancer, the role of artificial intelligence as prognosis and prediction tools… a brief overview of the interventions of doctors and researchers from the Institut Curie at the congress:
Professor Paul Cottu, medical oncologist at the Institut Curie, presented the results of the translational analysis of the phase 2 UNICANCER study, NeoPAL, conducted in collaboration with Dr Fatima Mechta-Grigoriou, Inserm research director at the Institut Curie and Professor Anne Vincent-Salomon, pathologist at the Institut Curie. This study compared the effects of chemotherapy with those obtained by the application of a combination of neoadjuvant letrozole-palbociclib (LP) in 103 patients with high-risk luminal tumors. The development of alternative treatments to chemotherapy is an important issue in research, in order to avoid the numerous side effects that the latter can cause. By evaluating parameters of cancer cell proliferation, immune cell attraction and stromal changes associated with tumor response, the team shows that the LP combination has effects similar to those observed following chemotherapy , thereby establishing the framework for future studies investigating the development of alternative treatments.
Dr Elise Dumas, engineer at the Institut Curie presented his work on the treatment of genitourinary syndromes of menopause (GSM) after breast cancer. GSMs are common at menopause, and can be triggered or aggravated by taking hormonal therapy as adjuvant treatment for breast cancer. Taking local estrogens, vaginally, is effective in relieving the symptoms of GSMs, but their use is not recommended after breast cancer, as it could increase the risk of relapse. Using medico-administrative data from 134,942 patients with a history of non-metastatic breast cancer, Elise Dumas and her team showed that the initiation of local estrogens did not induce an increase in the risk of relapse or death in general. However, the team observed an increase in the risk of relapse or death of 3 percentage points at 5 years in patients with a history of luminal breast cancer, currently treated with aromatase inhibitors. The team concludes that the prescription of local estrogens should be avoided in its patients.
On May 17, Dr Etienne Brain, medical oncologist at the Institut Curie, provided an educational session on the management of toxicity risks for recently developed molecules prescribed as treatment for breast cancer.
Professor François-Clément Bidard, doctor-researcher at the Institut Curie, presented a presentation on the current roles of new hormonal therapies in early and late disease settings.
Finally, as part of a special symposium, Father Anne Vincent-Salomon discussed the implications of the growing role of artificial intelligence as a tool in breast cancer care, through its use for prognosis and prediction of treatment response.
