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Review
. 2021 Jul 12:11:693104.
doi: 10.3389/fonc.2021.693104. eCollection 2021.

Clinical and Pharmacologic Differences of CDK4/6 Inhibitors in Breast Cancer

Mridula A George  1 , Sadaf Qureshi  2 , Coral Omene  1 , Deborah L Toppmeyer  1 , Shridar Ganesan  1
Affiliations
Review

Clinical and Pharmacologic Differences of CDK4/6 Inhibitors in Breast Cancer

Mridula A George et al. Front Oncol. .

Abstract

Targeted therapies such as Cyclin Dependent Kinase 4 and 6 (CDK 4/6) inhibitors have improved the prognosis of metastatic hormone receptor (HR) positive breast cancer by combating the resistance seen with traditional endocrine therapy. The three approved agents currently in the market are palbociclib, ribociclib and abemaciclib. Besides the overall similarities associated with CDK4/6 inhibition, there are differences between the three approved agents that may explain the differences noted in unique clinical scenarios- monotherapy, patients with brain metastases or use in the adjuvant setting. This review article will explore the preclinical and pharmacological differences between the three agents and help understand the benefits seen with these agents in certain subgroups of patients with metastatic HR positive breast cancer.

Keywords: CDK4/6 cell cycle inhibitors; CDK4/6 inhibitors in breast cancer; abemaciclib; hormone receptor (HR); metastatic breast cancer; palbociblib; ribociclib.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Mechanism of action of CDK 4/6 inhibitors.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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