Posts by: Ana Pena, PhD

Ana Pena, PhD

Ana is a molecular biologist with a passion for communication and discovery. As a science writer, her goal is to provide readers, in particular patients and healthcare providers, with clear and quality information about the latest medical advances. Ana holds a Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences from the University of Lisbon, Portugal, where she specialized in infectious diseases, epigenetics, and gene expression.

July 24, 2019

Combining Breast, Lung Cancer Therapies Could Overcome Treatment Resistance

News

Combining Ibrance (palbociclib), a treatment for advanced breast cancer, with the lung cancer medicine crizotinib is more effective against human cancer cells in the laboratory than either drug alone, scientists have found. ... Read more

July 8, 2019

Puma Applies to FDA to Extend Nerlynx’s Use to HER2-Positive Metastatic Breast Cancer

News

Puma Biotechnology is seeking to extend the use of its breast cancer medicine Nerlynx (neratinib), in combination with capecitabine, to treat women with HER2-positive breast cancer whose disease has spread ... Read more

June 12, 2019

Combining 2 Assessments of Breast Cancer Recurrence Risk May Help Guide Use of Adjuvant Chemotherapy

News

Adding an assessment of a woman’s clinical risk to Genomic Health‘s genomic test Oncotype DX to estimate the likelihood of breast cancer recurrence may spare more young women from having ... Read more

June 7, 2019

Long-term Data Continue to Support Perjeta Regimen for HER2-positive Metastatic Breast Cancer

News

End-of-study data from the CLEOPATRA trial supports the long-term efficacy of Genentech‘s Perjeta (pertuzumab) plus Herceptin (trastuzumab) and docetaxel chemotherapy for patients with previously untreated HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer. Patients on the ... Read more

June 3, 2019

Chemo Resistance in TNBC Due to Molecular Changes That May Be Treatable, Study Suggests

News

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) cells can become resistant to chemotherapy by temporarily turning on molecular pathways that protect the tumor, new research using mouse models and patient tumor samples uncovered. ... Read more

May 13, 2019

Radiation Therapy Reduces Chances of Breast Cancer Returning in Women with Early, Hormone-Positive Disease, Trial Shows

News

Women with early, low-risk hormone receptor-positive breast cancer are significantly less likely to see their disease return if given radiation therapy and hormone therapy following surgery, according to a trial ... Read more

April 26, 2019

Surgery That Removes All Traces of Breast Cancer Stimulates Protective Anticancer Immune Response, Mouse Study Suggests

News

Breast cancer surgery with negative or clear margins, which leaves no signs of cancer behind, stimulates a protective anticancer immune response that reduces the risk of cancer spread to other regions ... Read more

April 17, 2019

AstraZeneca Teams with Daiichi Sankyo to Speed Development of HER2-positive Advanced Breast Cancer Therapy

News

AstraZeneca is starting a collaboration with Daiichi Sankyo for the global production and commercialization of trastuzumab deruxtecan (DS-8201), a novel antibody-drug conjugate under clinical studies for the treatment of advanced HER2-positive ... Read more

April 8, 2019

Time-Restricted Feeding May Cut Tumor Risk in Obese Women, Mouse Study Suggests

News

A preliminary study in mice suggests that when a person eats, and not what a person eats, may decrease the risk of breast tumors in obese women. Researchers at the ... Read more

April 5, 2019

Faslodex-Arimidex Improves Survival in Post-menopausal Women with Advanced BC, Trial Shows

News

First-line treatment with Arimidex (anastrozole) plus Faslodex (fulvestrant) prolongs the lives of post-menopausal women with hormone receptor (HR)-positive advanced breast cancer, particularly those who have never taken tamoxifen, results of ... Read more