Researchers at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) have made an important discovery about how genetic mutations in breast cancer patients can interact and drive resistance to certain drugs called CDK4/6 inhibitors. This finding, published in Nature, suggests a new strategy for predicting and preventing resistance to specific therapies based on the tumor’s genetic profile.

“This represents a major advance in understanding and predicting cancer behavior in response to treatment,” says physician-scientist Pedram Razavi, MD, Ph.D., who led the study with physician-scientist Sarat Chandarlapaty, MD, Ph.D. The study’s first author was Anton Safonov, MD, a physician-scientist in the MSK Breast Translational Program.

“To our knowledge, this is the first example showing that a complete genomic analysis of breast cancer, including both inherited and tumor-specific alterations, can predict the precise biological mechanism of resistance before therapy even begins,” Dr. Razavi adds.