Breast and Gynecological Cancer

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The certified Breast- and Gynecological Cancer Center of the UCT Mainz provides  multidisciplinary care of all patients with early and advanced breast cancer as well as gynecologic cancer. In 2018 we treated 266 patients with primary breast cancer and 175 patients with primary gynecological cancer. 

Clinical Research

The rate of study participation was 22% for breast and 14% for gynecological cancer in 2018. Members of the program contributed to landmark studies like PALOMA-1 (Schmidt M., et al. Breast Cancer Res. 2016) or a phase III study evaluating the role of lymphadenectomy in patients with advanced ovarian neoplasms (Hasenburg A., et al. NEJM. 2019). In addition we are evaluating the impact of a health-based PRO assessment on QoL in patients with advanced or metastatic breast cancer treated with Palbociclib (PRECYCLE). Furthermore, we initiated a phase I/II clinical trial assessing safety and efficacy of estetrol (E4) in postmenopausal women with advanced ER-positive breast cancer. As a partner of the UCT Mainz Cancer Immunotherapy Program, we substantially contribute to the first-in- human clinical study with RNA-immunotherapy for individualized tumor therapy in triple- negative breast cancer patients (TNBC-MERIT; NCT02316457).

Translational Projects

The scientific focus of the Breast and Gynecological Cancer Program is on the identification of prognostic and predictive factors in breast cancer such as infiltration of CD4-positive T cell subsets in early breast cancer (Schmidt M., et al. Breast Cancer Res. 2018) and immune signatures in node-negative breast cancer (Schmidt M., et al. Breast Cancer Res Treat. 2017). In a joint effort, we accomplish translational-experimental research in the projects i) tumor-associated MUC1 for prognosis and therapy of breast cancer, ii) new therapeutic targets in breast cancer therapy and iii) generation of prevascularized tissue equivalents for reconstructive surgery after vulva and breast cancer resections.

Most significant publications since 2015

  • Almstedt, K., Mendoza, S., Otto, M., Battista, M.J., Steetskamp, J., Heimes, A.S., Krajnak, S., Poplawski, A., Gerhold-Ay, A., Hasenburg, A., Denkert, C., Schmidt, M. 2020. EndoPredict(®) in early hormone receptor-positive, HER2-negative breast cancer. Breast Cancer Res Treat. 182(1), 137-146.
  • Harter P., Sehouli J., Lorusso D., Reuss A., Vergote I., Marth C., Kim J.W., Raspagliesi F., Lampe B., Aletti G., Meier W., Cibula D., Mustea A., Mahner S., Runnebaum I.B., Schmalfeldt B., Burges A., Kimmig R., Scambia G., Greggi S., Hilpert F., Hasenburg A., Hillemanns P., Giorda G., von Leffern I., Schade-Brittinger C., Wagner U., du Bois A. 2019. A Randomized Trial of Lymphadenectomy in Patients with Advanced Ovarian Neoplasms. The New England journal of medicine. 380, 822-832.
  • Schmidt M., Weyer-Elberich V., Hengstler J.G., Heimes A.S., Almstedt K., Gerhold-Ay A., Lebrecht A., Battista M.J., Hasenburg A., Sahin U., Kalogeras K.T., Kellokumpu-Lehtinen P.L., Fountzilas G., Wirtz R.M., Joensuu H. 2018. Prognostic impact of CD4-positive T cell subsets in early breast cancer: a study based on the FinHer trial patient population. Breast Cancer Res. 20(1):15.
  • Heimes A.S., Madjar K., Edlund K., Battista M.J., Almstedt K., Elger T., Krajnak S., Rahnenführer J., Brenner W., Hasenburg A., Hengstler J.G., Schmidt M. 2017. Subtype-specific prognostic impact of different immune signatures in node-negative breast cancer. Breast Cancer Res Treat. 165(2):293-300.
  • Finn R.S., Crown J.P., Ettl J., Schmidt M., Bondarenko I.M., Lang I., Pinter T., Boer K., Patel R., Randolph S., Kim S.T., Huang X., Schnell P., Nadanaciva S., Bartlett C.H., Slamon D.J. 2016. Efficacy and safety of palbociclib in combination with letrozole as first-line treatment of ER-positive, HER2-negative, advanced breast cancer: expanded analyses of subgroups from the randomized pivotal trial PALOMA-1/TRIO-18. Breast Cancer Res. 18(1):67.
  • Denkert C., von Minckwitz G., Brase J.C., Sinn B.V., Gade S., Kronenwett R., Pfitzner B.M., Salat C., Loi S., Schmitt W.D., Schem C., Fisch K., Darb-Esfahani S., Mehta K., Sotiriou C., Wienert S., Klare P., André F., Klauschen F., Blohmer J.U., Krappmann K., Schmidt M., Tesch H., Kümmel S., Sinn P., Jackisch C., Dietel M., Reimer T., Untch M., Loibl S. 2015. Tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes and response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy with or without carboplatin in human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-positive and triple-negative primary breast cancers. J Clin Oncol. 33(9):983-91. 
  • Finn R.S., Crown J.P., Lang I., Boer K., Bondarenko I.M., Kulyk S.O., Ettl J., Patel R., Pinter T., Schmidt M., Shparyk Y., Thummala A.R., Voytko N.L., Fowst C., Huang X., Kim S.T., Randolph S., Slamon D.J. 2015. The cyclin-dependent kinase 4/6 inhibitor palbociclib in combination with letrozole versus letrozole alone as first-line treatment of oestrogen receptor-positive, HER2-negative, advanced breast cancer (PALOMA-1/TRIO-18): a randomised phase 2 study. Lancet Oncol. 16(1):25-35.