Editorial [Hot topic: Putting the Brakes on Breast Cancer: Therapeutic Opportunities to Bring Cancer Stem Cells and the Tumor Microenvironment to a Screeching Halt (Guest Editor: Tracy Vargo-Gogola)]

摘要

Despite a recent decline in incidence, breast cancer remains as one of the most frequently diagnosed cancers and the second leading cause of cancer related deaths in American women [1]. There are a number of challenges that impact our ability to effectively treat this disease. First, breast cancer is a heterogeneous collection of diseases that demonstrate diverse histopathologies [2], genomic alterations [3], gene expression patterns [4, 5], clinical features, and therapeutic outcomes [6]. A second major challenge is the lack of treatment options for breast cancers that are inherently resistant or acquire resistance to multiple therapies including cytotoxic, endocrine, and targeted therapies [7-11]. Finally, there is a paucity of treatments that are effective against metastatic breast cancer [12], and thus the majority of patients with metastases will eventually succumb to the disease.nnDespite these complex issues, the development of targeted therapies such as trastuzumab to treat Her2+ breast cancers [13, 14] and tamoxifen and aromatase inhibitors to treat hormone receptor-positive breast cancers [15] have had a major impact on disease outcome for a significant number of patients. These success stories indicate that additional targeted therapies used in a personalized fashion will allow us to more effectively treat this heterogeneous disease to prevent resistance, recurrence, and ultimately, death due to metastasis.