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UPMC Hillman Cancer Center
University of Pittsburgh
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UPMC Hillman Cancer Center
University of Pittsburgh

Breast Cancer Awareness Month 2025: Research advances in the news

October 30, 2025

As Breast Cancer Awareness Month comes to a close, we want to thank all our UPMC and University of Pittsburgh clinicians, researchers, and staff who work every day to lessen the burden of breast cancer for patients, their caregivers, and their family!

Take a moment to learn about some of the breakthroughs reported and discussed this month by our experts who are transforming the future of breast cancer care.

  • Improving treatments
    Interim data presented by Charles Geyer, MD, at the 2025 European Society for Medical Oncology from the phase 3 DESTINY-Breast05 trial (NCT04622319) revealed trastuzumab deruxtecan-nxki (T-DXd) significantly improved disease-free survival in high-risk HER2-positive breast cancer patients compared to trastuzumab emtansine (T-DM1). Read more.
  • Developing novel vaccines
    A vaccine for breast cancer led by Olivera Finn, PhD, and Emily Diego, MD, is testing whether it will initiate an immune system response in women with Stage-0 ductal carcinoma. The Northern Connection Magazine reported that the first phase of the trial for the vaccine, originally opened to 50 post-menopausal patients, will expand recruitment, making hormone therapy optional and opening the study to pre-menopausal women. Learn more.
  • Enhancing breast cancer screening
    Robert Nishikawa, PhD, told the Managed Care Cast of The American Journal of Managed Care® that deep-learning AI models used by radiologists allow them to read screenings faster at a higher sensitivity and specificity, helping to advance breast cancer screenings for patients. Learn more.