Titles and Affiliations
Research Fellow
Conquer Cancer, the ASCO Foundation
Research Area
Determining whether some patients with HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer can safely stop therapy.
Impact
Advances in HER2-targeted therapy have turned metastatic HER2-positive breast cancer into a long-term condition for many patients, and some “exceptional responders” remain stable for years. But these patients typically stay on treatment indefinitely, facing ongoing side effects, frequent clinic visits, and financial burden. For her Conquer Cancer research supported by BCRF, Dr. Morganti is investigating if some of these patients safely stop therapy.
What’s Next
Through the STOP-HER2 trial (NCT05721248), patients with HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer who have been stable on treatment for at least three years can choose to stop therapy under close monitoring or continue as usual. The team’s main goal is to see what proportion of patients who stop remain free of cancer progression after one year. They are collecting blood samples to track cancer DNA in the blood, the absence of which could predict which patients are at low risk of progression. This research could reduce the burden of lifelong therapy and offer some patients a true, treatment-free remission.
Biography
Stefania Morganti, MD is a medical oncologist and advanced breast oncology fellow in the Breast Oncology Center at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (Boston, MA). Originally from Italy, she completed her medical training at the University of Pavia (Italy) and pursued her fellowship in Medical Oncology at the European Institute of Oncology and the University of Milan (Italy).
Under the mentorship of Dr. Heather Parsons and Dr. Nancy Lin, Dr. Morganti’s research focuses on advancing the use of blood-based biomarkers to refine risk stratification and guide treatment decisions for patients with breast cancer. She has led multiple projects in this field, including studies on clonal hematopoiesis of indeterminate potential in breast cancer, predictors of exceptional response to HER2-targeted therapies, and the role of circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) in predicting endocrine resistance through nucleosome and epigenomic profiling. Additionally, Dr. Morganti serves as a sub-investigator for the STOP-HER2 and SAPPHO investigator-initiated clinical trials.
