
The 2026 ESMO Breast Cancer Awardee, Daniel F. Hayes, reflects on the future of biomarker research in the field
Meaningful answers to important clinical questions should be pursued, regardless of the technology or treatments used – this is the take-home message from Daniel F. Hayes, Stuart B. Padnos Professor of Breast Cancer Research (Active Emeritus) at the University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center, USA, receiving the 2026 ESMO Breast Cancer Award at the ESMO Breast Cancer 2026 congress (Berlin, 6–8 May). The award was given in recognition for his key role in the development of tumour biomarker tests, as well as his role in helping to establish international guidelines on their use.
During his Award Lecture at the Congress, Hayes reflects on the key moments in the evolving field of tumour biomarker research in breast cancer.
What do you consider to be the greatest turning points in breast cancer biomarker research?
Breast cancers were among the first cancer types to attract attention in terms of tumour-specific therapy and a shift away from the ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach to treatment. This shift first happened with identification of the oestrogen receptor (ER) in the early 1970s by Elwood Jensen, which was quickly followed by William McGuire and others, who demonstrated that patients with ER-negative breast cancer did not benefit from anti-oestrogen (endocrine) therapies.
Over the last decade, the discovery of circulating cell-free tumour DNA (ctDNA) in the blood of patients with breast and other cancers has led to re-identification of the presence of mutations in the ESR1 gene (the gene that encodes for ER) in metastatic breast cancer (MBC) tissue (Nat Genet. 2013;45:1446–1451). These mutations were found in ligand (oestrogen)-independent ER signalling, and this observation supported the idea that oestrogen depletion with aromatase inhibitors (AIs) – one of the most common treatments for ER positive disease – would be ineffective in cancers harbouring these mutations (Clin Cancer Res. 2016;22:993–999).
Read the full interview: https://dailyreporter.esmo.org/esmo-breast-cancer-2026/latest-news/liquid-biopsy-has-the-potential-to-improve-patients-lives-across-the-entire-spectrum-of-breast-cancer







