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Biomarkers and Therapeutic Targets in Inflammatory Breast Cancer (IBC)

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Abstract

Inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) is the most aggressive type of breast cancer with survival rates far lower than other types of breast cancer. Patterns of development, invasion, and presentation are unique to IBC compared with other breast cancers. However, therapies targeted specifically to the treatment of IBC are lacking. Specific therapies, which address the unique features of IBC, are needed to improve prognosis for this type of breast cancer. The first step in developing improved treatments is to identify biomarkers and genes, which are preferentially expressed in IBC and to develop therapies targeted to these markers. In this paper, we discuss advances made in the studies of biomarkers and gene expression in IBC over the last 5 years. Some of the markers have proven to be prognostic or predictive of response to therapy. In some cases, therapies targeted for biomarkers are already used in the treatment of cancer and could be evaluated in IBC patients.

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Conflict of Interest

Tiffany Avery and Massimo Cristofanilli declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Human and Animal Rights and Informed Consent

This article does not contain any studies with animal subjects performed by any of the authors. With regard to the authors’ research cited in this paper, all procedures were followed in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000 and 2008.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medical Oncology, Thomas Jefferson University-Kimmel Cancer Center, Philadelphia, PA, 19107, USA

    Tiffany Avery & Massimo Cristofanilli

  2. Jefferson Breast Center and Clinical Program, Thomas Jefferson University-Kimmel Cancer Center, 1025 Walnut St-Suite 700, Philadelphia, PA, 19107, USA

    Massimo Cristofanilli

Authors
  1. Tiffany Avery
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  2. Massimo Cristofanilli
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Correspondence to Massimo Cristofanilli.

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Avery, T., Cristofanilli, M. Biomarkers and Therapeutic Targets in Inflammatory Breast Cancer (IBC). Curr Breast Cancer Rep 6, 245–250 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12609-014-0166-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12609-014-0166-8

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