Decoding the Different Types of MBC Treatment

Treatments for MBC fall into different categories. You may hear terms like targeted therapy, chemotherapy, hormone therapy, and immunotherapy. These are all systemic treatments, meaning that they are taken by mouth or injection and go throughout the body. Understanding these different terms is important because it helps you understand the choices you have.

Click the links below to learn more about different types of treatment for MBC and clinical trials that are studying these types of treatments.

Targeted Therapy Compared to Chemotherapy

• American Cancer Society: Targeted therapy keeps cancer cells from growing and is more specific to cancer cells, whereas chemotherapy kills cancer cells and affects cancer cells and normal cells

Hormone Therapy

• Susan G. Komen: Hormone therapy blocks estrogen that estrogen receptor-positive MBC needs to grow

Immunotherapy

• Susan G. Komen: Immunotherapy enhances the immune system’s ability to find and kill cancer cells
• Cancer Research Institute: Immunotherapy treatments can be drugs or modified immune cells 

MBC Clinical Trials

• Metastatic Trial Search: Trials for Targeted Therapy
• Metastatic Trial Search: Trials for Chemotherapy
• Metastatic Trial Search: Trials for Hormone Therapy
• Metastatic Trial Search: Trials for Immunotherapy

• Category: Inside Clinical Trials
• Tag: Clinical Trial Terms, Inside Clinical Trials, Navigating Cancer Care, Types of MBC Treatment