About one in eight women will develop breast cancer during her lifetime, making it one of the most common cancers in the United States. Alarmingly, cancer rates are climbing among women under 50.
Fortunately, breast cancer survivorship has tripled over the past 60 years, thanks to immense advances in screening, early detection and successful treatments.
Today, City of Hope® continues to build on that success — expanding access to the latest therapies while continuing to improve patients’ and survivors’ quality of life. At City of Hope, renowned breast cancer physician-scientist Hope S. Rugo, M.D. is leading the charge.
As the new director of the Women’s Cancers Program at City of Hope and chief of the breast medical oncology division, Dr. Rugo is leading the expansion of women’s cancers research and clinical care across the enterprise. She joins more than 150 clinicians and researchers who are working together to elevate breast cancer care nationwide, as they translate leading-edge research into real-time patient care.
“I am thrilled to join City of Hope to serve its patients, expand clinical trials and foster the careers of faculty in our Women’s Cancers Program and the division of breast medical oncology across our five City of Hope cancer centers and other locations,” said Dr. Rugo.
New Horizons in Treatment: Five Exciting Research Studies
City of Hope is one of the top oncology clinical trial providers in the nation. In breast cancer alone, more than 100 clinical trials are currently underway or in development.
In addition to government funding, philanthropy plays a key role in supporting and accelerating lifesaving research at City of Hope. These five exciting studies highlight the kind of new hope City of Hope can offer to patients thanks to generous donor support.
1. Adaptive, personalized strategies for high-risk patients
City of Hope and Dr. Rugo are part of an innovative national study that is working to better identify personalized treatment strategies for aggressive breast cancer. Known as the I-SPY 2 trial, this study assesses the efficacy of novel medications in sequence with chemotherapy to learn which new drug agents are most effective with which types of breast cancer tumors. Researchers are also looking at early indicators of response that may be predictors of treatment success. The I-SPY2 trial framework gives researchers more flexibility than traditional clinical trials to quickly adapt treatments and approaches based on patient response.
Thanks to philanthropic support, Dr. Rugo and her team are studying data from I-SPY 2, making connections they hope will lead to improved therapies and better ways to monitor and predict relapse for aggressive breast cancer.
2. A new option for patients with ER+, HER2- advanced or metastatic cancer progression
Estrogen-receptor positive (ER+) and HER2-negative breast cancer is the most common breast cancer subtype in the United States. Recently, a class of medications called cyclin dependent kinase inhibitors (CDKi) have shown promise in interrupting the growth of cancer cells for this type of cancer, and three drugs that target two of the enzymes (CDK 4 and 6) are already in use treating patients with both advanced and high-risk early-stage cancer. However, more options are needed to overcome the known resistance of tumors to these agents that develop over time. A new study led by Dr. Rugo is exploring whether a next-generation CDKi that blocks CDKs 2, 4 and 6, could both overcome this resistance and be more effective than current agents. In the trial, the new CDK 2, 4 and 6 inhibitor is given in combination with Giredestrant, a novel selective estrogen receptor degrader, to patients with advanced or metastatic disease that has progressed during or following treatment with CDKi and endocrine therapy.
3. CAR T cell therapy for breast cancer that has spread to the brain
City of Hope was the first cancer center in the country to successfully treat solid tumors in the brain with chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy. Now researchers led by Jana Portnow, M.D., are developing a new CAR T cell therapy for HER2-positive breast cancer that has metastasized to the brain, teaching a patient’s immune cells to seek out and destroy the cancer. Philanthropic support has been instrumental in advancing CAR T research across City of Hope.
4. Combined therapies for patients with treatment resistance
Recurrent or metastatic hormone receptor positive breast cancer is the most common subset of advanced disease. Although treatment and survival have improved, cancers can develop resistance to existing therapies. New therapeutic combinations are urgently needed. City of Hope is collaborating with pharmaceutical companies to improve outcomes with new combination therapies including both novel endocrine and targeted agents. One study is evaluating the combination of elacestrant, an oral selective estrogen receptor degrader, with various targeted agents for patients with ER+, HER2-negative metastatic breast cancer. Previous research has shown that elacestrant and other agents of this class work better than standard hormone therapies for patients whose tumors have developed mutations in the estrogen receptor (ESR1).
5. A cannabinoid product for pain
Nearly half the women who take aromatase inhibitors develop significant joint pain. For some, the pain is so severe they stop taking the medication, putting their lives at risk. Scientists at City of Hope are testing a pharmaceutical-grade cannabis-based medicine to determine whether it is effective in treating joint pain in breast cancer patients taking aromatase inhibitors. The source of this product is from the same plant species as cannabis, but with almost none of the tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) that causes the mind-altering “high” of marijuana. The proprietary formula contains significant amounts of cannabidiol, or CBD, a substance used by many people to help with chronic pain, inflammation and insomnia. Lead investigator Lisa Yee, M.D., says the study supports patients and physicians who are looking for better, non-opioid ways to treat pain. This trial is funded in part through philanthropic support.
Bringing Clinical Trials to Patients Nationwide
City of Hope recently launched innovative national clinical trials model to expand access to emerging treatments like these to more patients across the country.
Through the model, City of Hope operates a single centralized hub which has multiple research locations, enabling the organization to open a clinical trial across multiple states simultaneously with this centralized support. The operational efficiency of this national model reduces patient enrollment times, increases enrollment numbers and ensures patients across a wide geographic footprint have access to an extensive portfolio of leading-edge treatment options.
Our growing national system includes our headquarters in Los Angeles, a brand-new Orange County, California campus, and hospitals and outpatient clinics across Southern California, Phoenix, Chicago and Atlanta. Today, millions of Americans are now within 90 minutes of a City of Hope location, giving more patients access to lifesaving care, closer to home.
A Foundation Firmly Rooted in Philanthropy
Philanthropy is a catalyst for breast cancer research — helping our research teams launch new studies, leverage new technologies and speed promising therapies from the laboratory to the clinic.
“There is so much we’re doing at City of Hope — in the labs and the clinics — to improve early detection, fight treatment-resistant cancers, target early relapse, reduce toxicity, and harness genomic analyses to personalize care,” says Dr. Rugo. “Philanthropic partnership helps drive everything we do.”
To find out more, visit the City of Hope clinical trials website.
