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- Cancer Information
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- Surgery for Breast Cancer in Men
- Radiation Therapy for Breast Cancer in Men
- Chemotherapy for Breast Cancer in Men
- Hormone Therapy for Breast Cancer in Men
- Targeted Drug Therapy for Breast Cancer in Men
- Immunotherapy for Breast Cancer in Men
- Treatment of Breast Cancer in Men, by Stage
- Questions to Ask Your Doctor About Breast Cancer in Men
- If You're a Man with Breast Cancer
What's New in Research for Breast Cancer in Men?
Breast cancer in men is rare and is often treated like breast cancer in women, but research is showing that there are some differences. More research is needed.
Research into the causes, prevention, and treatment of breast cancer is under way in many medical centers throughout the world. However, most breast cancer clinical trials and research are done in women. See What's New In Breast Cancer Research? (in women) for more information on advances in breast cancer treatment.
Causes of breast cancer and breast cancer prevention
Studies continue to uncover lifestyle factors and habits that alter breast cancer risk. Ongoing studies are looking at the effect of exercise, weight gain or loss, and diet on breast cancer risk. Research is also looking to see if being overweight or obese as a teenager increases breast cancer risk in men as it does for breast cancer in women.
Research has identified several genetic variations associated with breast cancer risk. It shows that these genetic variations affect breast cancer risk in different ways for men and women. This suggests differences in the biology of breast cancer in men and women. More research is being done on this. Scientists are also exploring how common gene variations may affect breast cancer risk. Each gene variant has only a modest effect on risk (10% to 20%), but when taken together they may possibly have a large impact.
New laboratory tests
Circulating tumor cells/tumor DNA
Researchers have found that in many breast cancers, cells may break away from the tumor and enter the blood. These circulating tumor cells (CTCs) and the DNA from these cancer cells (circulating tumor DNA [ctDNA]) can be detected with sensitive lab tests. It is thought that these “liquid biopsies” may help monitor patients while they are getting treatment. This might also be an easy way to collect tumor cells to test for new drugs or sensitivities to currently available drugs before actually giving them. Although these tests are available for general use, and the research is promising, more studies are needed.
Treatment
Radiation therapy
Men with breast cancer tend to be diagnosed with larger tumors and often have mastectomies. But it's not clear whether these men should have radiation therapy after surgery, as well. Most doctors follow the same guidelines set for women with breast cancer who have mastectomies, but it is not clear if these recommendations should be the same for men. More studies are needed to define the role of radiation after mastectomy in men with breast cancer.
Immunotherapy
Recent studies in a few types of cancer have shown a promising new way to get immune cells called T cells (a type of white blood cell) to fight cancer by changing them in the lab so they can find and destroy cancer cells. Research for this type of treatment in breast cancer is being investigated.
The American Cancer Society medical and editorial content team
Our team is made up of doctors and oncology certified nurses with deep knowledge of cancer care as well as editors and translators with extensive experience in medical writing.
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Fan X et al. Durable remissions with BCMA specific chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-modified T cells in patients with refractory/relapsed multiple myeloma. J Clin Oncol 35, 2017 (suppl; abstr LBA3001).
Ignatiadis M, Lee M and Jeffrey SS. Circulating Tumor Cells and Circulating Tumor DNA: Challenges and Opportunities on the Path to Clinical Utility. Clin Cancer Res November 1 2015 (21) (21) 4786-4800.
Jardel P, Vignot S, Cutuli B et al. Should Adjuvant Radiation Therapy Be Systematically Proposed for Male Breast Cancer? A Systematic Review. Anticancer Research38: 23-31 (2018).
Keinan-Boker L, Levine H, Leiba A et al. Adolescent obesity and adult male breast cancer in a cohort of 1,382,093 men. Int. J. Cancer: 142, 910–918 (2018).
Neelapu SS, Locke FL, Bartlett NL, et al. Axicabtagene ciloleucel CAR T-cell therapy in refractory large B-cell lymphoma. N Engl J Med 2017;377: 2531-2544.
Rahal K, Abdeljaoued S, Bettaieb I et al. Overexpression of FOXM1 is a potential prognostic marker in male breast cancer. SABCS 2015. Poster Session 6: Treatment: Male Breast Cancer (7:30 AM-9:00 AM). December 12, 2015.
Schuster SJ, Svoboda J, Chong EA, et al. Chimeric antigen receptor T cells in refractory B-cell lymphomas. N Engl J Med 2017;377: 2545-2554.
Silvestri V, Rizzolo P, Zelli Vet al. A possible role of FANCM mutations in male breast cancer susceptibility: Results from a multicenter study in Italy. The Breast 38 (2018) 92-97.
Last Revised: April 27, 2018
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