Predicting Late Recurrences in Breast Cancer

Tumor dormancy is thought to account for late recurrences in estrogen receptor (ER)-positive breast cancer, and strategies to prevent such recurrences are focused on sequential use of adjuvant endocrine agents and extended durations of endocrine therapy. Research is also ongoing to identify biomarkers that predict risk for late recurrence. Earlier studies involving the transATAC study cohort of postmenopausal women with localized, ER-positive disease treated with anastrozole or tamoxifen (J Clin Oncol 2008; 26:1059) have shown that immunohistochemical markers and gene-expression profiles provided information beyond clinical variables about risk for distant recurrence in the first 5 years. But whether their utility extends beyond that period…