Risk of gonadotoxicity with immunotherapy and targeted agents remains an unsolved but crucial issue

Current practices in oncofertility counseling: updated evidence on fertility preservation and post-treatment pregnancies in young women affected by early breast cancer

INTRODUCTION

Anticancer treatments have significantly contributed to increasing cure rates of breast cancer in the last years; however, they can also lead to short- and long-term side effects, including gonadotoxicity, and compromised fertility in young women. Oncofertility is a crucial issue for young patients who have not yet completed their family planning at the time of cancer diagnosis.

AREAS COVERED

This review aims to cover all the latest available evidence in the field of oncofertility, including the gonadotoxicity of currently adopted anticancer therapies in the curative breast cancer setting, the available strategies for fertility preservation and the feasibility of achieving a pregnancy following anticancer treatment completion.

EXPERT OPINION

Over the past years, a significant progress has been made in oncofertility care for young women with breast cancer. In the context of the currently available evidence, every young woman with newly diagnosed breast cancer should receive a proper and complete oncofertility counseling before starting any anticancer treatment to increase her chances of future pregnancies.

The Australian New Zealand Consortium in Children, Adolescents, and Young Adults Oncofertility action plan

International and national oncofertility networks, including the US-led Oncofertility Consortium, FertiProtekt, and the Danish Network, have played pivotal roles in advancing the discipline of oncofertility over the last decade. Many other countries lack a shared approach to pediatric oncofertility health service delivery. This study aims to describe baseline oncofertility practices at Australian New Zealand Children's Haematology/Oncology Group centers in 2019-2021, describe binational priorities for care, and propose a 5-year action plan for best practice to be implemented by the newly formed Australian New Zealand Consortium in Children, Adolescents, and Young Adults (CAYA) Oncofertility (ANZCO).

Assessing risks and knowledge gaps on the impact of systemic therapies in early breast cancer on female fertility: A systematic review of the literature

The therapeutic landscape for early breast cancer (eBC) has expanded by introducing novel anticancer agents into clinical practice. During their reproductive years, women with eBC should be informed of the potential risk of premature ovarian insufficiency (POI) and infertility with the proposed systemic therapy. Although the topic of female fertility is becoming increasingly relevant in patients with cancer, limited information is available on the gonadotoxicity of new agents available for eBC treatment. Analyses from clinical trials and prospective data on ovarian function biomarkers are lacking. The purpose of this systematic review is to report the available preclinical and clinical data on female fertility risk with the use of the new agents that are part of clinical practice use or under development for eBC management. This review highlights the clear need to perform additional research efforts to improve our understanding on the gonoadtoxicity of new anticancer agents.

Fertility and Pregnancy-Related Issues in Young BRCA Carriers With Breast Cancer

Approximately 10% to 15% of breast cancer cases in young women are diagnosed in patients harbouring germline (g) pathogenic or likely pathogenic variants (PVs) in the BReast CAncer 1 (BRCA1) or BReast CAncer 2 (BRCA2) genes. Preclinical and clinical studies showed a potential negative effect of germline BRCA1/2 (gBRCA1/2) PVs on ovarian reserve and reproductive potential, even before starting anticancer therapies. The aim of this article is to summarize the current literature on the fertility potential of young gBRCA1/2 PVs carriers with breast cancer and the risk of gonadotoxicity associated with anticancer treatments. Moreover, we describe the available evidence on the efficacy of fertility preservation techniques in young gBRCA1/2 PVs carriers and the safety data on having a pregnancy after breast cancer treatment.

What are the most common controversial clinical issues in fertility preservation? A content analysis of a collaborative professional online consultation group

RESEARCH QUESTION

Clinicians involved in fertility preservation (FP) are often required to make prompt and consequential decisions despite the absence of evidence-based data. We established a collaborative professional online consultation group for fertility preservation issues. We sought to determine the main controversial clinical issues in FP as raised by participants of this group.

DESIGN

Content analysis of a dedicated community of practice interacting via a messaging application (WhatsApp) and a survey of group participants.

RESULTS

Between January 2019 and July 2022, group members posed 39 clinical questions which were discussed and debated by the group. Common themes included management of oncofertility cases (33%), potential gonadotoxicity of various therapies (23%), fertility preservation in women and girls with premature ovarian insufficiency (POI) (18%), and technical aspects of ovarian tissue cryopreservation (10%). All but one query received prompt response (mean time for first response for 95% of queries 7.1 ± 9.0 min) from a mean of 5.4 ± 3.2 members. An anonymous online survey of group members was conducted during August 2022 (n = 31, response rate 94%). The majority of respondents stated they gained knowledge and assistance in clinical decision making from participation in the discussion group (90% and 58% of respondents, respectively).

CONCLUSIONS

Management of clinical oncofertility cases, potential gonadotoxic effect of therapeutics and fertility preservation in women and girls with POI were the most common controversial issues in our fertility preservation community of practice. Intra-professional collaborative communication via a messaging application can aid in clinical management of fertility preservation and augment clinician's knowledge.

The Future of Breast Cancer Research in the Survivorship Field

Prevalence of survivors of breast cancer has been steadily increasing in the last 20 years. Currently, more than 90% of women diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer are expected to be alive at 5 years from diagnosis thanks to early detection and breakthrough innovations in multimodal treatment strategies. Alongside this advancement in clinical outcomes, survivors of breast cancer might experience several specific challenges and present with unique needs. Survivorship trajectories after diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer can be significantly impacted by long-lasting and severe treatment-related side effects, including physical problems, psychological distress, fertility issues in young women, and impaired social and work reintegration, which add up to patients' individual risk of cancer recurrence and second primary malignancies. Alongside cancer-specific sequelae, survivors still present with general health needs, including management of chronic preexisting or ensuing conditions. Survivorship care should implement high-quality, evidence-based strategies to promptly screen, identify, and address survivors' needs in a comprehensive way and minimize the impact of severe treatment sequelae, preexisting comorbidities, unhealthy lifestyles, and risk of recurrence on quality of life. This narrative review focuses on core areas of survivorship care and discuss the state of the art and future research perspectives in key domains including selected long-term side effects, surveillance for recurrences and second cancers, well-being promotion, and specific survivors' needs.

Approaches to Fertility Preservation for Young Women With Breast Cancer

In patients with early breast cancer, the combination of different systemic treatment strategies, including chemotherapy, endocrine therapy, targeted therapy, and more recently also immunotherapy has demonstrated to significantly improve their survival outcomes. However, this gain is often obtained at the cost of higher toxicity calling for the need of increased attention toward survivorship-related issues, including fertility preservation in young women. According to available guidelines, health care providers should offer oncofertility counseling to all patients with cancer diagnosed at reproductive age. Counselling should focus on the risk of gonadotoxicity of anticancer treatments and on the access to fertility preservation techniques. However, several surveys have demonstrated suboptimal implementation of these recommendations. This review aims at summarizing the available evidence on oncofertility to guide health care providers involved in the management of young women with breast cancer. Available and effective options for fertility preservation include oocyte/embryo cryopreservation or ovarian tissue cryopreservation. Patient, disease, and treatment characteristics should be carefully considered when offering these strategies. Ovarian function preservation with gonadotrophin-releasing hormone agonists during chemotherapy should be discussed and offered to every premenopausal woman concerned about developing premature ovarian insufficiency and independently of her wish to preserve fertility. Current available data confirm that pregnancy occurring after proper treatment for breast cancer is safe, both in terms of long-term clinical outcomes and for the babies. Fertility preservation and pregnancy desire should be pivotal components of the multimodal management of breast cancer in young women, and require a multidisciplinary approach based on close collaborations between oncologists and fertility specialists.

Impact of Anti-HER2 Therapy Alone and With Weekly Paclitaxel on the Ovarian Reserve of Young Women With HER2-Positive Breast Cancer

BACKGROUND

The potential gonadotoxicity of anti-HER2 agents remains largely unknown, and limited, conflicting evidence exists for taxanes. Antimüllerian hormone (AMH) is an established biomarker of ovarian reserve that may aid in quantifying anticancer treatment-induced gonadotoxicity.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

The present biomarker analysis of the randomized phase III neoadjuvant NeoALTTO trial included premenopausal women aged ≤45 years at diagnosis of HER2-positive early breast cancer with available frozen serum samples at baseline (ie, before anticancer treatments), at week 2 (ie, the "biological window" of anti-HER2 therapy alone), and/or at the time of surgery (ie, after completing paclitaxel + anti-HER2 therapy, before starting adjuvant chemotherapy).

RESULTS

The present analysis included 130 patients with a median age of 38 years (interquartile ratio [IQR], age 33-42 years). AMH values at the 3 time points differed significantly (P<.001). At baseline, median AMH levels were 1.29 ng/mL (IQR, 0.56-2.62 ng/mL). At week 2, a small but significant reduction in AMH levels was observed (median, 1.10 ng/mL; IQR, 0.45-2.09 ng/mL; P<.001). At surgery, a larger significant decline in AMH levels was observed (median, 0.01 ng/mL; IQR, 0.01-0.03 ng/mL; P<.001). Although the type of anti-HER2 treatment (trastuzumab and/or lapatinib) did not seem to impact the results, age and pretreatment ovarian reserve had a major influence on treatment-induced gonadotoxicity risk.

CONCLUSIONS

This NeoALTTO biomarker analysis showed that anti-HER2 therapies alone had limited gonadotoxicity but that the addition of weekly paclitaxel resulted in marked AMH decline with possible negative implications for subsequent ovarian function and fertility.