Titles and Affiliations
Associate Professor
Medical Oncologist
Conquer Cancer, the ASCO Foundation
Research area
Optimizing therapies for patients with early-stage triple-negative breast cancer.
Impact
Patients with triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) face higher risks of early recurrence and death compared to other breast cancer subtypes. Chemotherapy, often combined with immunotherapy, is the standard treatment, even for early-stage TNBC. Most patients receive a combination of two to five drugs, increasing the risk of adverse side effects. Prior research has shown that artificial intelligence (AI) tools can measure how fast TNBC cells grow, and researchers can use that information to predict the chance of cancer coming back, especially in patients with low levels of immune cells in their tumors. In these patients, tumors shown to have slower growth had a low risk of recurrence while faster-growing tumors had a high risk. These tools may be able to help predict which patients require less aggressive therapies, avoiding exposure to severe side effects.
Progress Thus Far
For his Conquer Cancer Award supported by BCRF, Dr. Leon-Ferre and his team tested whether traditional methods, such as manual cell division counts under a microscope or measuring the Ki-67 cell proliferation marker, could produce the same results as their AI methods. So far, traditional methods could not reliably predict patient outcomes, suggesting the AI tools may be capturing important details that standard pathology cannot. They have also completed tumor sequencing and will begin analyzing genetic signatures related to cancer growth.
What’s next
In a related study, the team is finalizing plans for a major clinical trial that tailors TNBC treatment based on the level of immune cells in the tumor. Patients with very high immune cell levels may be able to safely skip chemotherapy and instead have surgery (with radiation if needed), since their risk of recurrence is extremely low. Patients with lower immune cell levels will receive chemotherapy, and some will also be randomly assigned to receive immunotherapy, with the goal of avoiding chemotherapy drugs with more severe side effects. This trial plans to enroll 1,455 patients.
Biography
Roberto Leon-Ferre, MD is a medical oncologist and researcher focused on breast cancer, with a special interest in triple-negative breast cancer. His research evaluates factors that impact the prognosis of patients with breast cancer and their response to anti-cancer treatments. His goal is to increase our understanding of how the immune system can be leveraged to optimize treatment strategies for patients with breast cancer. He is interested in tailoring treatment approaches in a personalized manner. His goal is for every patient to receive the right intensity of treatment so that cancer is controlled or eradicated without more side effects than necessary.
