American Society for Clinical Oncology 39(th) Annual Meeting, Chicago, Illinois, USA, 31 May to 3 June 2003: Breast cancer neoadjuvant and adjuvant chemotherapy – prognostic and predictive markers

The annual American Society of Clinical Oncology congress is the largest forum for cancer professionals in the world, promoting new developments in cancer medicine. A wide spectrum of subjects relevant to breast cancer research and treatment was covered in this year's meeting, including chemotherapy in the neoadjuvant and adjuvant settings, molecular and gene profiling studies, and use of more conventional prognostic and predictive markers of outcome. This report discusses some of the highlights in translational and clinical aspects of early breast cancer management presented at the meeting.