Personalized treatment of early-stage breast cancer: Present concepts and future directions

Breast cancer is the most common malignancy in women. Effective loco-regional as well as systemic treatment options have rendered breast cancer a curable disease for the vast majority of early-stage patients. Considering tumor biology and clinical outcomes, breast cancer is a very heterogeneous disease. With the recent understanding of distinct molecular sub-types, the era of one size fits all therapy concepts has passed and a new era of personalized therapy concepts has started. This review will focus on recent advances in personalized treatment of early-stage breast cancer, with a particular interest in tumor biology-guided treatment decisions. It will also highlight how carefully molecular tests need to be methodologically and clinically validated before they can be applied for clinical decision making. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.