Patients who have metastatic triple-negative breast cancer, an aggressive cancer that lacks hormone receptors and HER2 protein, are usually treated with chemotherapy, and sometimes immunotherapy. After two months or more of treatment, they have imaging studies to evaluate whether the treatment is working.
Investigators at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center and elsewhere are evaluating whether they can use circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA), small bits of DNA released into the blood by tumor cells, to know sooner if treatment is working.
Vandana Abramson, MD, MS, the Donna S. Hall Professor of Breast Cancer and co-leader of the Breast Cancer Research Program at Vanderbilt-Ingram, is leading a study that will test ctDNA after 14 days of standard treatment for patients with metastatic triple-negative breast cancer. Half of the patients in the study will have ctDNA evaluated and if levels do not drop by at least 50%, their treatment will be changed.
“We hope we can detect very quickly whether a patient is responding to treatment and potentially save patients from toxicity and improve outcomes by switching to a more effective treatment earlier if the first treatment isn’t working,” Abramson said. “I hope that ctDNA testing might replace most cancer imaging as a way to assess response to treatment.”
Abramson and other breast cancer researchers at Vanderbilt-Ingram have benefited from donor support, including that of Nicole Kidman, an internationally acclaimed actress and passionate advocate for breast cancer research and care. Kidman, who is a close friend of Abramson, helped as a teenager to care for her mother, a breast cancer survivor.
In addition to her philanthropic support, Kidman gave freely of her time and influence to raise awareness for research during Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October 2025. She has also voiced Vanderbilt Health’s new brand campaign, “Details Matter.”
“I am so grateful to Nicole for her support and advocacy,” Abramson said. “Nicole is someone who has always been interested in science and has a personal connection to breast cancer through her mother’s experience. It is so important and valuable that she has both personally supported breast cancer research and care and that she is helping get the message out into the community about the importance of this support.”