Risk Factors for Skeletal Related Events in Breast Cancer Patients Receiving Bisphosphonates for Bone Metastases

Bone is the most common site of distant breast cancer recurrence, and 65-75% of women with advanced breast cancer will develop bone metastases during the course of their disease. The most pressing problem in management of bony metastases today, is the inability to reliably identify patients at high risk for skeletal related events (SREs) (such as bone fractures, surgery/radiotherapy for pain or prevention of fractures, high calcium levels, and spinal cord compression) despite the standard use of bone medication (bisphosphonates). Using the latest innovations both in imaging and blood tests, this novel pilot project will develop a risk model for predicting bone metastases, which will be able to identify patients who would most benefit from novel treatments, such as the multikinase inhibitor Zactima and the Src inhibitor, AZD0530. Given that approximately 1/3 of patients with metastatic breast cancer and bony disease will sustain an SRE despite use of a bisphosphonate, there is an urgent unmet need in this large population to introduce effective bone protective agents.