Fabienne Lebrun
Medical oncologist at the Institut Jules Bordet in Brussels and a co-author of the BOLERO-2 trial reports that brought the mTOR inhibitor everolimus into breast cancer care
Department of Medicine, later Department of Oncology, Institut Jules Bordet, Université Libre de Bruxelles (PubMed affiliations 2012–2022)
Fabienne Lebrun is a co-author of both main reports of BOLERO-2 in this Atlas. BOLERO-2 was a phase 3 trial in 724 postmenopausal women with hormone-receptor-positive, HER2-negative advanced breast cancer that had kept growing despite an aromatase inhibitor, a type of hormone therapy (BAS2012, PIC2014). All the women took the hormone drug exemestane; half also took everolimus, a rapamycin-like drug that blocks mTORC1, the cell's growth-control complex. Resistance to hormone therapy in these cancers is linked to overactive mTOR signalling, and adding everolimus more than doubled the time before the cancer grew again (10.6 versus 4.1 months by central review in the first report). That result led to the approval of everolimus for this use. The final report (PIC2014) confirmed the gain in progression-free survival, but overall survival was not significantly longer: median 31.0 versus 26.6 months. The main side effect was mouth sores (stomatitis).
The trial matters for the mTOR story because it was the first large test showing that blocking mTORC1 helps patients with a common cancer. It also shows the limits: the drug delayed tumour growth by months but did not clearly lengthen life.
Lebrun's papers in PubMed place her at the Institut Jules Bordet, the cancer hospital of the Université Libre de Bruxelles, first in the Department of Medicine and later in the Department of Oncology. Her other work includes a 2015 analysis of which tumour gene changes predicted benefit from everolimus in BOLERO-2, a 2013 phase 1 trial of temozolomide plus lapatinib for brain metastases in HER2-positive breast cancer, a 2017 review of intravenous iron for anaemic cancer patients, and a 2022 report of a rare liver side effect of combined immunotherapy and targeted therapy in kidney cancer. Her current position could not be confirmed from an official page; the affiliation shown is the most recent one in PubMed (2022).
Milestones in the Atlas
A selection, not a full bibliography: only papers that meet the Atlas inclusion criteria.
| Year | Evidence | Study |
|---|---|---|
| 2012 | H | Everolimus in postmenopausal hormone-receptor-positive advanced breast cancer (BOLERO-2) BAS2012 Co-author of the primary BOLERO-2 report, in which adding everolimus to exemestane more than doubled progression-free survival. |
| 2014 | H | Everolimus plus exemestane for hormone-receptor-positive, human epidermal growth factor receptor-2-negative advanced breast cancer: overall survival results from BOLERO-2† PIC2014 Co-author of the final BOLERO-2 analysis, which confirmed the progression-free survival gain but found no significant overall survival benefit. |
Co-authors in the Atlas 14
People with a profile here who share at least one study with Fabienne Lebrun.
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- Alejandra Perez 2 shared studies Breast cancer oncologist in South Florida who enrolled patients in BOLERO-2, the trial that brought the mTOR inhibitor everolimus into breast cancer treatment
- Gabriel N. Hortobagyi 2 shared studies Breast cancer physician-scientist and senior author of BOLERO-2, the phase 3 trial that showed adding the mTOR inhibitor everolimus improves outcomes in advanced hormone-receptor-positive breast cancer
- Hope Rugo 2 shared studies Breast cancer oncologist and clinical trialist, long at UCSF, who helped run BOLERO-2 and studied how to manage the side effects of mTOR inhibitors such as everolimus
- Ines Deleu 2 shared studies Medical oncologist in Sint-Niklaas, Belgium, who enrolled patients in international breast cancer drug trials, including the BOLERO-2 trial of everolimus
- José Baselga 2 shared studies Breast cancer oncologist who led the BOLERO-2 trial showing that the mTOR inhibitor everolimus added to hormone therapy lengthens progression-free survival
- Kathleen Pritchard 2 shared studies Breast cancer medical oncologist at Sunnybrook in Toronto, professor emerita at the University of Toronto and long-time leader of breast cancer trials, co-author of the BOLERO-2 everolimus trial
- Mario Campone 2 shared studies Breast cancer oncologist and general director of the Institut de Cancérologie de l'Ouest, a co-investigator on the BOLERO-2 trial that brought everolimus into breast cancer care
- Martine J. Piccart 2 shared studies Breast cancer oncologist who co-founded the Breast International Group and has led or co-led major academic trials such as HERA, MINDACT and ALTTO.
- Michael Gnant 2 shared studies Surgical oncologist and breast cancer trialist, Professor of Surgery at the Medical University of Vienna and President of the Austrian Breast and Colorectal Cancer Study Group, and a co-author of BOLERO-2, the trial that brought the mTOR inhibitor everolimus into breast cancer treatment
- Shinzaburo Noguchi 2 shared studies Breast cancer surgeon and researcher at Osaka University and a co-investigator of BOLERO-2, the trial that brought the mTOR inhibitor everolimus into breast cancer treatment
- Yoshinori Ito 2 shared studies Breast medical oncologist at the Cancer Institute Hospital in Tokyo and a co-investigator of BOLERO-2, the trial that brought the mTOR inhibitor everolimus into breast cancer treatment
- David Lebwohl Medical oncologist and drug developer who led the clinical development of everolimus (Afinitor) at Novartis through approvals in several cancers and tuberous sclerosis, and later served as Chief Medical Officer of the gene-editing company Intellia Therapeutics
- Howard A Burris Medical oncologist who led the Sarah Cannon Research Institute in Nashville as President and Chief Medical Officer, has run hundreds of early-phase cancer drug trials, including the first trial of the mTORC1-selective inhibitor RMC-5552, and was ASCO President in 2019–2020
- Tarek Sahmoud Physician and epidemiologist who worked as a clinical program head in Novartis oncology drug development during the everolimus trials, and later as chief medical officer at several cancer drug companies
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