Ellen Puré, PhD

Ralph Weichselbaum, MD

Ellen Puré, PhD and Ralph Weichselbaum, MD, will present the plenary lectures at the 2019 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium^® (SABCS^®), Dec. 10-14.

Puré of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia will present “Stromal Cells and Matrix Remodeling as Essential Regulators of the Tumor Microenvironment.” Weichselbaum of the University of Chicago will present “Metastatic Breast Cancer Oligo Too Many: A Role for Ablative Therapy?”

Puré’s presentation looks at recent studies of how cancer associated fibroblasts (CAFs) regulate tumor cell growth and metastasis and affect the body’s immune system response to fighting cancer. New research is exploring ways to inhibit the tumor promoting activities and remove the immunosuppressive factors of cancer associated fibroblasts giving the body a better chance at fighting cancer. Puré said she hopes people attending the lecture leave with a greater appreciation for the different approaches toward treating cancer.

“Killing the tumor cells themselves is what most traditional therapies do, but typically the malignant cells become resistant and come back,” she said. “We want to not only treat the cancer cell but make the host environment hostile, so they don’t reemerge.”

Weichselbaum’s talk will advance the hypothesis that ablative therapies including surgery and radiotherapy may improve outcomes for some patients with metastatic disease

“As it relates to breast cancer, the application of ablative therapies is more complex than some other cancers because systemic therapies are better and breast cancer is heterogeneous,” Weichselbaum said. “We need to look at when ablative can and should be used and how it fits in with systemic therapies including immunotherapies.”

Each lecture will be in Hall 3 preceding each day’s general session. Puré’s lecture will be at 8:15 a.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 11. Weichselbaum’s will be at 9 a.m. on Thursday, Dec. 12. Visit the following link to see all the speakers and faculty at #SABCS19.

Registration for #SABCS19 is open through Nov. 22 but discounted registration ends Oct. 31. Visit sabcs.org to register today.