Breast cancer remains the major cause of cancer related deaths among women. For 2019, American Cancer Society estimates ~268,600 new cases and 41,760 associated deaths in the United States. Worldwide, approximately 2.1 million new female breast cancer cases will be diagnosed in 2019. Invasive lobular cancer (ILC) is the second most common histological subtype of breast cancers, after the more common subtype of invasive ductal cancer (IDC). ILC accounts for ~10%-15% of all breast cancers (~39,000 annually in the US) and ranks as the 6th most commonly diagnosed cancer in women in the US. ILC has been chronically understand, however, there is an increasing appreciation of unique clinical and biological aspects of the disease that require additional research. There is a need for more interactions and collaborations between researchers, clinicians and patient advocates in order to better understand ILC with the final goal to improve outcome for thousands of women affected globally by this sneaky disease.

The 2nd International ILC Symposium will bring together national and international experts presenting new findings from basic, translational and clinical research. The symposium will also focus on the education of patients with ILC, breast cancer advocates, their families, and other caregivers. The advocacy bootcamp will be led by the Lobular Breast Cancer Alliance (LBCA) advocates for ILC research. We expect that the presentations and discussions will lead to improved understanding of ILC and new ideas for personalizing therapy for patients with ILC. In addition, this symposium will continue to forge new collaborations between the community of basic researchers, clinicians and breast cancer advocates that will ultimately lead to improved outcome for patients suffering with ILC.

At the conclusion of the symposium, attendees should have:

1) A greater appreciation for common and unique characteristics of primary and metastatic ILC.

2) A more complete understanding of treatment responses in patients with ILC.

3) An expanded knowledge of options for patients with ILC such as patient selection for neoadjuvant versus adjuvant therapies, breast conserving surgery, and more.

4) An ability to understand and discuss the role of biomarkers and genomic analysis in characterization of ILC