scholarly journals Investigation of the change in the biological structure of the tumor in metastatic breast cancer

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 171-174
Author(s):  
Veysel Haksoyler ◽  
Tolga Koseci ◽  
Timucin Cil ◽  
Berna Bozkurt Duman ◽  
Polat Olgun ◽  
...  

Objective: When metastasis develops in some breast cancer patients, hormone receptors (HR) and Human Epidermal Growth Factor-2 (Her-2) status can change and the tumor alters its character. We tried to determine the rate of these changes in tumor biology in 110 patients that we followed in our clinic and performed the change of the biopsy from the metastatic site (re-bx). We aimed to determine the biological changes of tumors and, contribute to the literature by examining the relationship of these changes with the adjuvant endocrine treatments (ET) or chemotherapy type (CT). Material and Methods: We included 110 metastatic breast cancer patients in our study. These patients had previously completed their local treatments followed by CT, and those with positive HR completed ET. After the first metastasis developed in the patients, we performed metastasectomy or biopsy from the metastatic site. Results: The median ki-67 value was 25% at the time of primary diagnosis and 30% in re-bx. 20.9% of patients estrogen receptor (ER), 31.8%  of patients progesterone receptor (PR) and 26.3% of patients Her-2 changed when metastasis developed. Conclusions: We found that the metastatic tumor has more aggressive properties than the primary tumor. Adjuvant chemotherapy and endocrine treatments or the location of metastasis did not make a significant difference in tumor biology.

2003 ◽  
Vol 21 (10) ◽  
pp. 1967-1972 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Lipton ◽  
S.M. Ali ◽  
K. Leitzel ◽  
L. Demers ◽  
H.A. Harvey ◽  
...  

Purpose: To determine the effect of elevated serum HER-2/neu on the response of metastatic breast cancer patients to an aromatase inhibitor versus an antiestrogen. Patients and Methods: Five hundred sixty-two estrogen receptor–positive metastatic breast cancer patients were randomized to first-line hormone therapy with either letrozole or tamoxifen. An automated enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was used to detect serum HER-2/neu. Results: For patients with normal serum HER-2/neu (70.5%), objective response rate (ORR; 39% in letrozole-treated patients v 26% in tamoxifen-treated patients; P = .008), clinical benefit (CB; 57% v 45%; P = .016), time to progression (TTP; median, 12.2 v 8.5 months; P = .0019), and time to treatment failure (TTF; median, 11.6 v 6.2 months; P = .0066) were significantly better in patients treated with letrozole. In the elevated HER-2/neu group (29.5%), there was no significant difference in ORR (17% in letrozole-treated patients v 13% in tamoxifen-treated patients; P = .45) or CB (33% v 26%; P = .31), but there was a strong trend in favor of a longer TTP with letrozole (median, 6.1 v 3.3 months; P = .0596) and a significantly longer TTF with letrozole (median, 6.0 v 3.2 months; P = .0418). Multivariate analysis revealed that elevated serum HER-2/neu was a negative predictor for ORR and TTP. Conclusion: Patients with normal serum HER-2/neu receiving letrozole demonstrated a significantly greater ORR and CB and longer TTP and TTF than patients receiving tamoxifen. Although in patients with elevated serum HER-2/neu there was no significant difference between letrozole and tamoxifen in ORR or CB, there was a strong trend favoring longer TTP and significantly longer TTF with letrozole.


2009 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raquel A. Nunes ◽  
Xiaochun Li ◽  
Soonmo Peter Kang ◽  
Harold Burstein ◽  
Lisa Roberts ◽  
...  

The detection of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in peripheral blood may have important prognostic and predictive implications in breast cancer treatment. A limitation in this field has been the lack of a validated method of accurately measuring CTCs. While sensitivity has improved using RT-PCR, specificity remains a major challenge. The goal of this paper is to present a sensitive and specific methodology of detecting CTCs in women with HER-2-positive metastatic breast cancer, and to examine its role as a marker that tracks disease response during treatment with trastuzumab-containing regimens. The study included patients with HER-2-positive metastatic breast cancer enrolled on two different clinical protocols using a trastuzumab-containing regimen. Serial CTCs were measured at planned time points and clinical correlations were made. Immunomagnetic selection of circulating epithelial cells was used to address the specificity of tumor cell detection using cytokeratin 19 (CK19). In addition, the extracellular domain of the HER-2 protein (HER-2/ECD) was measured to determine if CTCs detected by CK19 accurately reflect tumor burden. The presence of CTCs at first restaging was associated with disease progression. We observed an association between CK19 and HER-2/ECD. The association of HER-2/ECD with clinical response followed a similar pattern to that seen with CK19. Finally, the absence of HER-2/ECD at best overall response and a change of HER-2/ECD from positive at baseline to negative at best overall response was associated with favorable treatment response. Our study supports the prognostic and predictive role of the detection of CTCs in treatment of HER-2-positive metastatic breast cancer patients. The association between CK19 and markers of disease burden is in line with the concept that CTCs may be a reliable measure of tumor cells in the peripheral blood of patients with metastatic breast cancer. The association of CTCs at first restaging with treatment failure indicates that CTCs may have a role as surrogate markers to monitor treatment response.


2020 ◽  
Vol 43 (12) ◽  
pp. 694-702
Author(s):  
Louai Alsaloumi ◽  
Shaima Shawagfeh ◽  
Abdikarim Abdi ◽  
Bilgen Basgut

<b><i>Background:</i></b> Capecitabine is frequently used alone or combined with other chemotherapy agents for the treatment of metastatic breast cancer in relapsed patients. <b><i>Objective:</i></b> The objective of this meta-analysis is to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of capecitabine monotherapy versus combination in the treatment of metastatic breast cancer patients pretreated with anthracycline and taxane. <b><i>Methods:</i></b> Eligible randomized controlled trials examining the efficacy and safety of capecitabine alone compared to capecitabine combination were systematically searched. Progression-free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS), overall response rate (ORR), and grades 3–4 drug-related adverse events were the outcomes assessed. <b><i>Results:</i></b> A total of 6,714 patients of 9 trials were involved in the pooled analysis. Our findings demonstrated that capecitabine combination is significantly superior to capecitabine monotherapy in improving PFS (hazard ratio [HR] 1.32, 95% CI 1.13–1.54, <i>p</i> &#x3c; 0.0001) and ORR (risk ratio [RR] 0.67, 95% CI 0.54–0.83, <i>p</i> &#x3c; 0.001), but it was insignificant in OS (HR 1.09, 95% CI 0.98–1.22, <i>p</i> = 0.12). On the other hand, the incidence of non-hematological adverse events such as hand-foot syndrome and diarrhea was lower in capecitabine combination compared to capecitabine monotherapy. <b><i>Conclusion:</i></b> Capecitabine-based combination chemotherapy showed superiority over capecitabine monotherapy in terms of PFS and ORR, with no significant difference in OS. Non-hematological adverse effects such as hand-foot syndrome were fewer with a combination regimen. However, hematological adverse events were fewer with capecitabine monotherapy regimen.


2004 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 175-182 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Lüftner ◽  
C. Cheli ◽  
K. Mickelson ◽  
E. Sampson ◽  
K. Possinger

Introduction The proteolytic breakdown product corresponding to the extracellular domain (ECD) of the HER-2/neu oncoprotein p185 is found in the circulation of healthy individuals and patients having cancers of epithelial origin. For the current evaluation we sought to determine the analytical performance as well as the clinical utility of the newly developed ADVIA Centaur® HER-2/neu assay (Bayer HealthCare LLC, Diagnostics Division, Tarrytown, NY, USA) in monitoring patients with metastatic breast cancer during the course of disease and treatment and to compare the obtained results with those of CA 15–3. Methods The analytical performance (including precision, normal range, interfering substances, minimum detectable concentration, dilution recovery, spiking recovery and high-dose hook effect) were determined. HER-2/neu and CA 15–3 values were measured in retrospective samples obtained from 59 patients with metastatic breast cancer undergoing treatment over a 6–12 month period. Serial changes in serum HER-2/neu and CA 15–3 were correlated with changes in clinical status on a visit-to-visit basis. For each pair of serial measurements, changes of equal to or greater than, or less than 15% for HER-2/neu and 21% for CA 15–3 were considered to indicate progression or lack of progression, respectively. Results The ADVIA Centaur HER-2/neu assay demonstrated within-run imprecision and total imprecision ranging from 3.0–5.6% and from 3.2–5.7%, respectively. The upper limit of normal was 15.2 ng/mL (90% CI: 14.2–17.0 ng/mL). No significant interference (<5%) was seen with bilirubins, hemoglobin, triglycerides and cholesterol or therapeutic drugs commonly present in the sera of breast cancer patients. The minimum detectable concentration (analytical sensitivity) was found to be 0.5 ng/mL. The patient population in the clinical study included breast cancer patients who responded to therapy (stable, partial or complete response) or had disease progression. HER-2/neu levels showed a concordance of 78.1% (82/105 restaging time points) with the clinical course of disease, whereas CA 15–3 levels showed a concordance of 76.2% (80/105 restaging time points). The concordance with clinical status increased to 85.7% (90/105 restaging time points) when both results were used in combination as a series test. Conclusions The ADVIA Centaur HER-2/neu assay provides excellent analytical performance for serial testing of serum HER-2/neu levels. The clinical data demonstrate the usefulness of serum HER-2/neu in monitoring metastatic breast cancer patients during treatment. Furthermore, the results indicate that serum HER-2/neu and CA 15–3 may be useful in identifying disease progression or therapeutic response in different subgroups of women with metastatic breast cancer.


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