Breast Cancer in Young Women: Research Priorities. A Report of the Young Survival Coalition Research Think Tank Meeting

Abstract

Breast cancer in young women is a significant issue-7% of all female breast cancer is diagnosed in women under 40 years of age. Young women with breast cancer (YWBC) face significant and unique challenges, including a higher likelihood of biologically aggressive disease and metastatic disease at diagnosis, leading to poorer prognosis, more aggressive treatment and long-term treatment-related toxicities, and unique psychosocial concerns. This article summarizes the Young Survival Coalition (YSC) Research Think Tank Meeting, held in Arlington, Virginia, in February 2013, and presents the process that led to YSC's priorities for YWBC research. The meeting's participants focused on six broad categories of investigation in which additional advancements in research on YWBC are crucial: risk factors; treatment; fertility; pregnancy-associated breast cancer; quality of life and survivorship; and metastasis. Several key themes emerged from this meeting. Researchers and advocates felt that a large-scale data registry focused on YWBC is necessary to collect quality information to guide future research for YWBC. This database should include clinical data, genomic profiling of primary tumor and metastatic sites, and an increased focus on fertility and pregnancy following breast cancer treatment. The participants also felt that more must be done to elucidate how and why YWBC develop more aggressive tumors, and to what degree treatment should be modified for young women. The discussions summarized here led to the formulation of YSC's Research Agenda, published in May 2014.

Keywords: breast cancer; chemotherapy; fertility; metastasis; quality of life; survivorship.