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Table 1 The top 15 research questions/topics

From: International Web-based consultation on priorities for translational breast cancer research

Final rank

Topic category

Research question/topic

Total points received

1

Chemotherapy

Identify molecular signatures to select patients who could be spared chemotherapy

643

2

Chemotherapy

Identify molecular features that indicate the optimal chemotherapy regimen (for example, combination or sequential, anthracyclin or not, and taxane or not)

450

3

DCIS

Determine the factors in DCIS and/or atypical ductal hyperplasia which lead to progression into invasive carcinoma

406

4

Stem cells

Determine the role of stem cells in breast cancer development, progression, and treatment sensitivity

404

5

Triple-negative/basal

Identify response/resistance mechanisms and thereby therapeutic targets for triple-negative breast cancer

369

6

Computing

Develop a system (computer and so on) that will integrate all the information gathered so far about breast cancer to build robust models for understanding the aetiopathogenesis, treatment, and prognosis of breast cancer

305

7

Prognosis

Identify which low-risk patients require no adjuvant therapy

301

8

New growth factor targets

Determine whether other growth factor pathways (such as epidermal growth factor receptor, insulin-like growth factor receptor, Notch, Hedeghog, Wnt, and other angiogenic pathways) are important targets for therapy

287

9

Genetics

Investigate which gene mutations in a tumour lead to metastases

236

10

Endocrine

Identify drugable targets that can be developed/exploited for therapeutic gain to overcome primary/secondary endocrine resistance

226

11

Consensus

Define consensus phenotyping procedures for specific molecular subtypes of breast cancer (immunohistochemistry, expression array, or reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction signature genes)

201

12

Endocrine

Search for a more accurate and validated score of hormone sensitivity

180

13 (tie)

Imaging

Develop non-invasive techniques to diagnose and characterise primary breast tumours

171

13 (tie)

Endocrine

Determine whether there is a molecular profile (including PgR and HER2) that can distinguish patients likely to respond to tamoxifen versus an aromatase inhibitor

171

15

Herceptin: duration

Identify markers of the optimal duration of trastuzumab therapy

165

  1. DCIS, ductal carcinoma in situ.