Breast Cancer: The Future

Future of Breast Cancer:

There are many treatments, technologies, and therapies that are currently in testing to minimize side effects, diagnose the disease earlier, and improve the quality of life for people with breast cancer.

Treatments and Drugs:

Vepdegestrant is a drug that specifically targets breast cancer cells which minimizes side effects and prevents returning cancer. It gets rid of the estrogen receptors, which will inhibit the tumor growth since estrogen receptor-positive breast cancers use estrogen to grow.

Other treatments not only reduce unwanted side effects but have also shown potential in improving the quality of life of patients compared to standard hormone therapy.

• Imlunestrant — An oral SERD (Selective Estrogen Receptor Degrader) which has shown to reduce cancer progression by 38%.

• RLY-2608 — This combined with fulvestrant blocks the mutant PIK3CA protein which promotes the growth of cancer cells, lessening unwanted side effects and delaying cancer progression.

• Antibody drug conjugates — Combined with immunotherapy delayed cancer progression by 3.4 months compared to chemotherapy. However, more research is needed because of the side effects that cannot be ignored.

  
  

Technology:

Detecting, diagnosing, and keeping track of the progression of cancer in patients are key to controlling the disease and taking proactive measures. One potential technology involves detecting ctDNA, which is found in blood where the risk of the cancer returning is high. This will allow patients to receive more aggressive or personalized treatment and accommodate to the differences in patients dealing with breast cancer.

Current prediction of breast cancer risks relies on gender, age, ethnicity, health history, and family health history. However, an AI tool has received authorization for predicting five-year risk directly from a mammogram, which will allow patients to take more precautions and act early on just in case.

Therapy:

New treatments are more personalized and less invasive, however, sometimes the disease is very severe and treatment can cause discomfort and painful side effects to patients. One of these side effects is hot flashes, which is common in people taking hormone therapy for breast cancer, and there are no current options to combat it. However, Elinzanetant is a therapy that is currently undergoing clinical trial testing, and it showed a significant decrease in the number of hot flashes and shows promise in increasing the quality of life for patients taking hormone therapy.

What Now?

By 2050, breast cancer cases are expected to increase by 38% globally according to the UN, and deaths are projected to rise by 68% according to a report from the International Agency for Research on Cancer.

WHO has launched a Global Breast Cancer Initiative in 2021, which could potentially prevent 2.5 million deaths by 2040. On top of this, strengthening healthcare systems, increasing funding for breast cancer screening and treatment, and making cost-effective policies can help people in lower-income regions that do not have the same opportunities and access to proper care. As research and technology advances, breast cancer is becoming increasingly preventable. The key now is to ensure equal access to these advancements so that millions of lives are not lost while there is still a way to save them.

References

Breast cancer cases projected to rise by nearly 40 per cent by 2050, WHO warns. (2025, February 24). UN News. https://news.un.org/en/story/2025/02/1160391

What’s New in Breast Cancer. (2025, July 23). Susan G. Komen®. https://www.komen.org/breast-cancer/whats-new-in-breast-cancer/