Michael Gnant
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
Professor of Surgery, Medical University of Vienna · President, Austrian Breast and Colorectal Cancer Study Group (since 2005) · Professor of Surgical Oncology, Medical University of Vienna (2004) · Associate Professor of Surgery, University of Vienna (2000) · Visiting Scientist, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda (1997)
Department of Surgery and Comprehensive Cancer Center, Medical University of Vienna (Vienna, Austria) ↗ ORCID0000-0003-1002-2118 ↗
Portrait: MedUni Wien/Matern
Most breast cancers grow in response to the hormone estrogen, and hormone therapy is the main treatment. Over time many tumours stop responding, and part of that resistance runs through mTOR. BOLERO-2 (BAS2012) was a phase 3 randomised trial in 724 postmenopausal women whose hormone-receptor-positive advanced breast cancer had progressed on an aromatase inhibitor. Adding the mTOR inhibitor everolimus to the hormone drug exemestane more than doubled the time before the cancer grew again, 10.6 versus 4.1 months by central review. The result led to approval of the combination. Mouth sores (stomatitis) were the main side effect. Michael Gnant was one of the co-authors.
The final overall-survival report (PIC2014) found a median of 31.0 months with everolimus plus exemestane and 26.6 months with placebo plus exemestane. That gap was not statistically significant, so the drug delayed progression but was not shown to lengthen life. Both papers are human trials.
Gnant is Professor of Surgery at the Medical University of Vienna and has led the Austrian Breast and Colorectal Cancer Study Group (ABCSG), the national cancer trials group, as President since 2005. After a period as a visiting scientist at the US National Cancer Institute in Bethesda in 1997, Gnant became associate professor of surgery at the University of Vienna in 2000 and professor of surgical oncology at the Medical University of Vienna in 2004. The research covers hormone therapy for breast cancer, CDK4/6 inhibitors, treatments that protect bone during cancer therapy and the design of large clinical trials, with earlier work on pancreatic cancer. Gnant was elected to Academia Europaea in 2025. PubMed lists close to 100 papers with Gnant, Vienna and ABCSG, such as a 2026 Austrian consensus on CDK4/6 inhibitors after surgery for early breast cancer.
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: part of the BOLERO-2 team showing that everolimus plus exemestane more than doubled progression-free survival in advanced hormone-receptor-positive breast cancer. |
| 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: part of the team reporting that BOLERO-2's overall-survival gain (31.0 versus 26.6 months) was not statistically significant. |
Co-authors in the Atlas 14
People with a profile here who share at least one study with Michael Gnant.
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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
- Fabienne Lebrun 2 shared studies 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
- 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.
- 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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