Eribulin and body mass in metastatic breast cancer: News from the hardest front of the battle

"The recent achievements in the scientific field have significantly widened the therapeutic options available against cancer. In some cases, which surely include breast cancer, the impact of new drugs on treatment outcomes has been undeniable in both the early and advanced phase of the disease." says Prof. Antonio Giordano, Director of the Sbarro Health Research Organization, Philadelphia, USA.

"Eribulin has proven survival advantage and manageable toxicity in women with heavily pre-treated metastatic breast cancer. The characterization of the patient profile more often associated with the best response in terms of efficacy may help maximize the therapeutic benefit at an individual patient level. The idea is that, for each and any therapeutic approach across the different settings, some patient features may be associated with better outcomes. Those "features" are the object of our interest. More specifically, our data show an impact of body mass index (BMI) on the outcomes considered, in that, patients whose BMI falls in the lowest category are more likely to remain "free" from disease progression for a longer time." Asserts Dr Maddalena Barba, senior researcher at Regina Elena Cancer Institute of Rome (Central Italy) and research coordinator for the project carried out by a multidisciplinary team composed by Italian and American members.

"Metastatic breast cancer remains particularly challenging and complex. In this setting, the understanding of the factors and mechanisms regulating patient response to treatment are of key importance." explains Prof. Giordano. "BMI is modifiable throughout lifestyle interventions and/or widely used drugs like metformin. Somewhat, the multifactorial nature of cancer has led us to consider multifactorial solutions, that is, solutions made of different "approaches." The battle against cancer is increasingly fought on multiple fronts, including diet- and physical exercise-related interventions, clinical research and practice. The all process needs to be particularly effective where we are majorly anger for patient important results, such as in metastatic breast cancer" clarifies and concludes the scientist.