Intergroup Exemestane Study Pathology Sub-Study

Intergroup Exemestane Study Pathology Sub-Study

Further Information

Acronym: PathIES
Chief Investigator: Prof RC Coombes
Sponsor: Imperial College London
Start Date: 01 September 2007
End Date: 31 August 2010
This study is supported by grants from CRUK and Pfizer.

Study Coordinator

Kelly Mousa
1st Floor - Medical Oncology
Charing Cross Hospital
Fulham Palace Road
London, W6 8RF

Tel: +44 (0) 208 846 7443
Fax: +44 (0) 208 741 1206
Email: k.mousa@imperial.ac.uk

Background

The Intergroup Exemestane Study (IES) has shown improved disease free survival in postmenopausal women with early breast cancer who switched to the aromatase inhibitor (AI) exemestane, after 2-3 years of tamoxifen therapycompared to those who received tamoxifen alone for a total of five years of adjuvant therapy (Coombes et al., 2007). Despite the overall benefit demonstrated it is not yet possible to identify upfront which women would benefit from switching to exemestane.

PathIES is an academically led translational study that aims to address this question. It involves the retrospective collection of archived formalin fixed paraffin embedded (FFPE) blocks containing tissue from the primary tumour, recurrent tumour and contralateral breast carcinomas from women participating in the IES. Tumour tissue will be analysed for a set of biomarkers that have been shown to impact on sensitivity to AIs and/or tamoxifen.

By correlating the results of this analysis with patient outcome, we hope to identity those biomarkers that may be determinants of response to these treatments thereby taking a step towards individualising treatment selection in this patient group.