Project description:BackgroundTumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) evaluated in primary breast cancer (BC) convey prognostic information. Limited data in the metastatic setting are available.MethodsSecondary lesions from 94 BC patients, 43 triple-negative (TN) and 51 HER2-positive, were evaluated for TILs and expression of CD8, FOXP3, and PD-L1 by immunohistochemistry.ResultsTILs levels on metastasis were generally low (median 5%) and did not differ between TN and HER2+ tumors. Younger patients showed significantly lower TILs (p = 0.002). In HER2+ patients, TILs were higher in lung metastases as compared to other sites (p = 0.038). TILs composition was different across metastatic sites: skin metastases presented higher FOXP3 (p = 0.002) and lower CD8/FOXP3 ratio (p = 0.032). Patients treated for metastatic BC prior to biopsy had lower CD8 (overall: p = 0.005, HER2+: p = 0.011, TN: p = 0.075). In TN patients, median overall survival (OS) was 11.8 and 62.9 months for patients with low and high TILs, respectively (HR 0.29, 95%CI 0.11-0.76, log-rank p = 0.008). CD8/FOXP3 ratio was also prognostic in TN patients (median OS 8.0, 13.2, and 54.0 months in 1st, 2nd and 3th tertile, log-rank p = 0.019). Both TILs and CD8/FOXP3 ratio were independent factors at multivariate analysis. Counterintuitively, in HER2+ BC, low TILs tumors showed better prognosis (median OS 53.7 vs 39.9 months in TILs low and TILs high, not statistically significant).ConclusionsOur findings indicate the relevance of TILs as prognostic biomarker for TNBC even in the advanced setting and provide novel hypothesis-generating data on potential sources of immune heterogeneity of metastatic BC.
Project description:PurposeLoss-of-function mutations in the adenomatous polyposis coli (APC) gene are common in metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC). However, the characteristic of APC specific mutations in mCRC is poorly understood. Here, we explored the clinical and molecular characteristics of N-terminal and C-terminal side APC mutations in Chinese patients with mCRC.Materials and methodsHybrid capture-based next-generation sequencing was performed on tumor tissues from 275 mCRC pati-ents to detect mutations in 639 tumor-associated genes. The prognostic value and gene-pathway difference between APC specific mutations in mCRC patients were analyzed.ResultsAPC mutations were highly clustered, accounting for 73% of all mCRC patients, and most of them were truncating mutations. The tumor mutation burden of the N-terminal side APC mutations group (n=76) was significantly lower than that of the C-terminal side group (n=123) (p < 0.001), further confirmed by the public database. Survival analysis showed that mCRC patients with N-terminus side APC mutations had longer overall survival than C-terminus side. Tumor gene pathway analysis showed that gene mutations in the RTK/RAS, Wnt and transforming growth factor β signaling pathways of the C-terminal group were significantly higher than those of the N-terminal group (p < 0.05). Additionally, KRAS, AMER1, TGFBR2, and ARID1A driver mutations were more common in patients with C-terminal side APC mutations.ConclusionAPC specific mutations have potential function as mCRC prognostic biomarkers. There are obvious differences in the gene mutation patterns between the C-terminus and N-terminus APC mutations group, which may have certain guiding significance for the subsequent precise treatment of mCRC.
Project description:HER2-low breast cancer (i.e., HER 1+ or 2+, without gene amplification) is an emerging subtype for which very few data are available, especially within the triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) group. Our aim was to evaluate HER2 expression and its prognostic value in a large retrospective series of patients with non-metastatic TNBC (median age: 57.7 years; range: 28.5-98.6). Among the 296 TNBC samples, 83.8% were HER2 0, 13.5% were HER2 1+, and 2.7% were HER2 2+ (HercepTestTM and 2018 ASCO/CAP guidelines for HER2 scoring). CK5/6 and/or EGFR-expressing androgen receptors and FOXA1-expressing tumors were classified as basal-like (63.8%) and molecular apocrine-like (MA, 40.2%), respectively. Compared with HER2 0 tumors, HER2 1+/2+ tumors exhibited a lower histological grade (1/2) (35.4% vs. 18.2%, p = 0.007) and MA profile (57.5% vs. 36.7%, p = 0.008). Moreover, patients with HER2 1+/2+ tumors were older (p = 0.047). After a median follow-up of 9.7 years, HER2 2+ tumors (compared with HER2 0/1+ tumors) were associated with worse relapse-free survival (RFS) (HR = 3.16, 95% CI [1.27; 7.85], p = 0.034) in a univariate analysis. Overall survival (OS) and RFS were not different in the HER2 0 and 1+/2+ groups. HER2 levels were not significantly associated with OS or RFS in a multivariate analysis.
Project description:Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) belong to a heterogeneous pool of rare cells, and a unequivocal phenotypic definition of CTC is lacking. Here, we present a definition of metabolically-altered CTC (MBA-CTCs) as CD45-negative cells with an increased extracellular acidification rate, detected with a single-cell droplet microfluidic technique. We tested the prognostic value of MBA-CTCs in 31 metastatic breast cancer patients before starting a new systemic therapy (T0) and 3-4 weeks after (T1), comparing results with a parallel FDA-approved CellSearch (CS) approach. An increased level of MBA-CTCs was associated with: i) a shorter median PFS pre-therapy (123 days vs. 306; p < 0.0001) and during therapy (139 vs. 266 days; p = 0.0009); ii) a worse OS pre-therapy (p = 0.0003, 82% survival vs. 20%) and during therapy (p = 0.0301, 67% survival vs. 38%); iii) good agreement with therapy response (kappa = 0.685). The trend of MBA-CTCs over time (combining data at T0 and T1) added information with respect to separate evaluation of T0 and T1. The combined results of the two assays (MBA and CS) increased stratification accuracy, while correlation between MBA and CS was not significant, suggesting that the two assays are detecting different CTC subsets. In conclusion, this study suggests that MBA allows detection of both EpCAM-negative and EpCAM-positive, viable and label-free CTCs, which provide clinical information apparently equivalent and complementary to CS. A further validation of proposed method and cut-offs is needed in a larger, separate study.
Project description:ObjectiveTo describe the incidence of ascites in metastatic papillary renal cell cancer (pRCC), identify the factors associated with its development and evaluate its prognostic effect on the survival of these patients.MethodsA retrospective evaluation of the medical records of patients with metastatic pRCC seen at National Cancer Institute (2000-2014) was undertaken. Logistic regression to identify predictors of the development of malignant ascites and Kaplan-Meier analysis to estimate survival was done.ResultsOverall, 106 consecutive patients with metastatic pRCC were identified; sufficient data were available in 100 patients to enable assessment of ascites. Further, 20% had evidence of malignant ascites. Median age at diagnosis of ascites was 48.0 years (26.1-76.6 years) and median time to development of ascites from initial diagnosis of metastatic disease was 16.0 (0-73.3) months. There was no significant difference in the incidence of ascites between patients with hereditary and sporadic pRCC (P = 0.803) or among patients with different subtypes of pRCC (P = 0.456). Elevated platelet-lymphocyte ratio predicted development of malignant ascites in our cohort (P = 0.009). Median overall survival was shorter for patients who developed ascites [25.0 (10.2-39.8) months] compared with patients who did not develop this complication [42.5 (30.5-54.4) months, P = 0.041].ConclusionTo our knowledge, this is the first systematic evaluation of the incidence, predictors, and prognostic effect of ascites in metastatic pRCC. Malignant ascites is a common manifestation of metastatic pRCC and is associated with a shorter overall survival. An elevated platelet-lymphocyte ratio predicts a higher risk of developing malignant ascites.
Project description:BACKGROUND/AIM:We examined the relationship between preoperative serum albumin levels and long-term outcomes in patients with breast cancer. PATIENTS AND METHODS:We retrospectively analyzed the records of 157 patients who underwent breast cancer surgery at a single institution. We divided the patients into those with <4.0 g/dl and those with ?4.0 g/dl preoperative serum albumin. RESULTS:The overall median follow-up period was 86.7 months. Among the 157 patients, 19 (12.1%) had decreased serum albumin levels preoperatively. A significant association with preoperative albumin levels was found only for patient age; however, we were unable to determine an association between preoperative albumin levels and various clinical features. The recurrence-free survival (p=0.030) and the overall survival (p=0.001) were both significantly shorter in patients with low albumin levels. CONCLUSION:Low serum albumin levels were associated with poor prognosis, but not with poor-prognostic factors. Therefore, low albumin levels may reflect the tumor microenvironment in breast cancer.
Project description:BackgroundMetastatic breast cancer remains incurable. Next-generation sequencing (NGS) offers the ability to identify actionable genomic alterations in tumours which may then be matched with targeted therapies, but the implementation and utility of this approach is not well defined for patients with metastatic breast cancer.MethodsWe recruited patients with advanced breast cancer of any subtype for prospective targeted NGS of their most recent tumour samples, using a panel of 108 breast cancer-specific genes. Genes were classified as actionable or non-actionable using the European Society of Medical Oncology Scale for Clinical Actionability of Molecular Targets (ESCAT) guidelines.ResultsBetween February 2014 and May 2019, 322 patients were enrolled onto the study, with 72% (n = 234) of patients successfully sequenced (n = 357 samples). The majority (74%, n = 171) of sequenced patients were found to carry a potentially actionable alteration, the most common being a PIK3CA mutation. Forty-three percent (n = 74) of patients with actionable alterations were referred for a clinical trial or referred for confirmatory germline testing or had a change in therapy outside of clinical trials. We found alterations in AKT1, BRCA2, CHEK2, ESR1, FGFR1, KMT2C, NCOR1, PIK3CA and TSC2 to be significantly enriched in our metastatic population compared with primary breast cancers. Concordance between primary and metastatic samples for key driver genes (TP53, ERBB2 amplification) was > 75%. Additionally, we found that patients with a higher number of mutations had a significantly worse overall survival.ConclusionGenomic profiling of patients with metastatic breast cancer can have clinical implications and should be considered in all suitable patients.
Project description:In metastatic breast cancer (MBC) the molecular characterization of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) provides a unique tool to understand metastasis-biology and therapy-resistance. We evaluated the prognostic significance of gene expression in EpCAM(+) CTCs in 46 MBC patients based on a long follow-up. We selected a panel consisting of stem cell markers (CD24, CD44, ALDH1), the mesenchymal marker TWIST1, receptors (ESR1, PGR, HER2, EGFR) and the epithelial marker CK-19. Singleplex RT-qPCR was used for TWIST1 and CK-19 and multiplex RT-qPCR for stem cell markers and receptors. A group of 19 healthy donors (HD) was used as control. Univariate (p = 0.001) and multivariate analysis (p = 0.002) revealed the prognostic value of combined gene expression of CK-19(+), CD44high/CD24low, ALDH1high/CD24low and HER2 over-expression for overall survival (OS). The Kaplan-Meier estimates of OS were significantly different in patients positive for CK-19 (p = 0.028), CD44high/CD24low (p = 0.002), ALDH1high/CD24low (p = 0.007) and HER2-positive (p = 0.022). Our results indicate that combined gene expression analysis in EpCAM(+) CTCs provides prognostic information in MBC.
Project description:PAM50 breast cancer intrinsic subtyping adds prognostic information in early breast cancer; however, the role in metastatic disease is unclear. We aimed to identify PAM50 subtypes in primary tumors (PTs) and metastases to outline subtype changes and their prognostic role. RNA was isolated from PTs, lymph node metastases (LNMs), and distant metastases (DMs) in metastatic breast cancer patients (n = 140) included in a prospective study (NCT01322893). Gene expression analyses were performed using the Breast Cancer 360 (BC360) assay from Nano-String. The subtype shifts were evaluated using McNemar and symmetry tests, and clinical outcomes were evaluated with log-rank tests and Cox regression. The PAM50 subtype changed in 25/59 of paired samples between PTs and LNMs (Psymmetry = 0.002), in 31/61 between PTs and DMs (Psymmetry < 0.001), and in 16/38 between LNMs and DMs (Psymmetry = 0.004). Shifts toward subtypes with worse outcomes were the most common. Patients with shifts from the luminal PT to non-luminal DM subtypes had worse progression-free survival compared to patients with a stable subtype (hazard ratio (HR): 2.3; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.14-4.68, p = 0.02). Strong evidence of PAM50 subtype shifts toward unfavorable subtypes were seen between PTs and metastatic samples. For patients with a shift in subtype from luminal PT to non-luminal DM, a worse prognosis was noted.
Project description:The prognosis for patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) varies, being influenced by blood-related factors such as transcriptional profiling and immune cell ratios. We aimed to address the contribution of distinct whole blood immune cell components to the prognosis of these patients. This study analyzed pre-treatment blood samples from 152 chemotherapy-naive mCRPC patients participating in a phase 2 clinical trial (NCT02288936) and a validation cohort. We used CIBERSORT-X to quantify 22 immune cell types and assessed their prognostic significance using Kaplan-Meier and Cox regression analyses. Reduced CD8 T-cell proportions and elevated monocyte levels were substantially connected with a worse survival. High monocyte counts correlated with a median survival of 32.2 months versus 40.3 months for lower counts (HR: 1.96, 95% CI 1.11-3.45). Low CD8 T-cell levels were associated with a median survival of 31.8 months compared to 40.3 months for higher levels (HR: 1.97, 95% CI 1.11-3.5). These findings were consistent in both the trial and validation cohorts. Multivariate analysis further confirmed the independent prognostic value of CD8 T-cell counts. This study highlights the prognostic implications of specific blood immune cells, suggesting they could serve as biomarkers in mCRPC patient management and should be further explored in clinical trials.