It’s been known for many years that Black women are twice as likely as white women to be diagnosed with triple-negative breast cancer. If diagnosed with this type of breast cancer, Black women are also more than twice as likely to die from the disease than women of other races and ethnicities. Researchers have been studying a number of factors that may play a role in these disparities.

Dr. Sanchita Bhatnagar’s research has found that cells that have too much TRIM37 protein are much more likely to become cancerous. She and her colleagues also have found that the breast tissue of Black women are much more likely to have high levels of TRIM37.

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The National Institutes of Health (NIH) are the largest funder of cancer research in the world. A January 2025 executive order froze NIH funding and cut indirect cost payments. Another executive order halted all public communications by a number of federal agencies. Challenges to the orders are winding through the courts. 

Dr. Donald McDonnell, who studies and develops drugs to treat breast and prostate cancer, explains how these actions are affecting breast cancer research and what it might mean for people diagnosed with the disease.

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About 10% to 15% of breast cancers are triple-negative. This means they don’t have receptors for the hormones estrogen or progesterone, and don’t have too many HER2 proteins. So, hormonal therapy medicines and medicines that target the HER2 protein aren’t effective against triple-negative breast cancer. 

Chemotherapy and immunotherapy are commonly used to treat triple-negative disease. But scientists are working diligently to develop new treatments that are more precise and targeted. 

Triple-negative breast cancer expert Dr. Lisa Carey explains the latest research.

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In January 2025, the U.S. Surgeon General put out an advisory on alcohol and cancer risk, calling for cancer risk-warning labels on alcoholic beverages. The advisory said alcohol contributes to nearly 100,000 cases of cancer each year, and about 20,000 deaths each year. 

The advisory also cited a 2019 study showing that alcohol is more closely linked to breast cancer than any other cancer. More than 44,000 breast cancer cases in 2019 were related to drinking alcohol, which was about 16% of the total number of breast cancer cases that year.

Lifestyle medicine researcher Dr. Tracy Crane discusses alcohol and breast cancer risk, including how to stop thinking of a drink as a reward after a hard day.

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Hormonal birth control increases breast cancer risk in women with a BRCA1 mutation, but not women with a BRCA2 mutation. Levonorgestrel IUDs increase risk, but how much? The long-term risk of breast cancer coming back — recurring — as metastatic disease has gone down in the last 20 years, but younger women still have a higher risk than older women.

What does all this mean? Breastcancer.org Professional Advisory Board member Dr. Kathy Miller discusses the details of these studies and how they may affect you.

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In cancer, biomarkers are features of the tumor, such as a genetic mutation or the presence of a certain protein. These biomarkers affect how the cancer behaves. Doctors use the results of biomarker testing to make treatment recommendations.

Several organizations, including the American Cancer Society and the LUNGevity Foundation, through the No One Missed campaign, are working to pass laws to require insurance coverage for biomarker testing for people with cancer.

Joanna Fawzy Doran, CEO of Triage Cancer, discusses some of the issues people face getting biomarker testing covered by insurance and how the new laws are helping.

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Five patient advocates share what they like and what they’re excited about at the 2024 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium. The advocates are:

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Scroll down to below the “About the guest” information to read a transcript of this podcast.

The 2024 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium featured five days of research presentations, educational sessions, and advocacy meetings.

Dr. Marisa Weiss, founder and chief medical officer of Breastcancer.org, breaks down the research that will have the most immediate impact for people diagnosed with breast cancer.

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Scroll down to below the “About the guest” information to read a transcript of this podcast.

At the 2024 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, Dr. Aditya Bardia, director of the Breast Oncology Program and Translational Research Integration at the UCLA Health Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, presented results from the DESTINY-Breast06 study, showing that Enhertu (chemical name: fam-trastuzumab deruxtecan-nxki), also called T-DXd, was better than chemotherapy for metastatic, hormone receptor-positive, HER2-low or -ultralow breast cancer that grew after one or more hormonal therapy medicines.

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Cases of breast cancer in young women have been increasing dramatically in the last eight years. Dr. Matteo Lambertini, whose research focuses on breast cancer in young, especially fertility and pregnancy after a breast cancer diagnosis, chaired a session on breast cancer in the young at the 2024 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium. He also presented the results of a study that found young women with a BRCA mutation and a history of breast cancer had better survival and a lower risk of recurrence – the cancer coming back – if they had risk-reducing surgery to remove their healthy ovaries and fallopian tubes, as well as the remaining healthy breast, and any breast tissue left if they had had lumpectomy.

Listen to the episode to hear Dr. Lambertini explain: