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Biomarker heterogeneity between primary breast cancer and synchronous axillary lymph node metastases

ABSTRACT: Whether the expression status of estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR), human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER-2) receptor and Ki-67 show concordance between the primary tumors and the synchronous axillary lymph node (ALN) metastases has been discussed in numerous studies. However, to date, the results of these studies remain controversial. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate whether the expression of ER, PR, HER-2 and Ki-67 was in concordance between the primary tumors and synchronous ALN metastases in patients with operable breast cancer (BC). A total of 60 tissue samples were collected from patients with primary operable BC diagnosed with primary tumors and synchronous ALN metastases. The expression levels of the four biomarkers, ER, PR, HER-2 and Ki-67, were assessed in primary lesions and synchronous ALN metastases samples using immunohistochemistry. The cut-off values were set to 10% for ER and PR, while the labeling index of Ki-67 was set to 14%. The immunostaining intensity of ER and PR was scored as negative (?), 1+, 2+ and 3+. The criteria for HER-2 testing in BC were implemented according to the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) and the College of American Pathologists (CAP) guidelines. The concordance rates for ER, PR and HER-2 were 96.7 (58/60), 96.7 (58/60) and 90% (54/60), respectively. In addition, the kappa values of consistency in the primary lesions and the synchronous ALN metastases were 0.773 for ER, 0.654 for PR and 0.785 for HER-2. Furthermore, the P-values of ER, PR and Ki-67 numerical variables between the two groups were 0.393, 0.400 and 0.331, respectively, as demonstrated using a non-parametric Wilcoxon signed rank test. The findings of the present study demonstrated a high degree of concordance between the expression of ER, PR, HER-2 and Ki-67 in the primary tumors and that in the synchronous ALN metastases, suggesting that the BC primary tumor biomarkers may be used for the prognosis of synchronous ALN metastases in patients with operable BC.

SUBMITTER: Xi X

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7520755 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:Lymph-node (LN) metastases predict for high recurrence rates in breast cancer patients. Eradication of micro-metastatic tumor cells is the primary goal of adjuvant systemic treatment. Decisions regarding systemic treatment depend largely on primary tumor characteristics rather than on characteristics of their LN metastases. However, it remains unclear to what extent LN metastases, having already metastasized locally, resemble their primary breast tumors and as such will be eradicated by the systemic therapy chosen. In this study we investigated the genetic differences between primary breast cancers and their paired LN metastases using array comparative genomic hybridization analyses on a high resolution 720K Nimblegen platform. Thus far, no metastasis-specific genomic aberrations have been identified. We hypothesized that this is due to low-resolution platforms and lack of stratification on breast cancer subtypes (specifically, triple-negative (TN) versus luminal). Furthermore, we speculated that as TN tumours are known to be more genetically unstable, their LN metastases would show an increase in random copy number aberrations (CNAs). Therefore, we studied 10 primary TN breast tumourM-bM-^@M-^SLN pairs and 10 luminal pairs and found that all LN metastases clustered nearest to their matched tumour except for two. These two were explained by poor hybridization quality and, interestingly, the presence of two histological components in one tumour. We found no significantly altered CNAs between pairs in the whole group, nor when subdivided over subtypes; neither did we find a CNA increase in LN metastases compared to primary tumours within the TN subgroup, suggesting most CNAs are functional and not random. Our findings suggest a strong clonal relationship between primary breast tumours and its LN metastases and support the use of the primary tumor characteristics to guide adjuvant systemic chemotherapy in breast cancer patients, since primary tumors and their subsequent LN metastases seem remarkably similar, at least prior to treatment. The experiment contains 20 paired primary breast cancer samples with their lymph node metastases, analysed on a 720 whole genome CGH array. Additionally, for one sample its two distinct histological subpopulations were analysed on the same platform.

Project description:Lymph-node (LN) metastases predict for high recurrence rates in breast cancer patients. Eradication of micro-metastatic tumor cells is the primary goal of adjuvant systemic treatment. Decisions regarding systemic treatment depend largely on primary tumor characteristics rather than on characteristics of their LN metastases. However, it remains unclear to what extent LN metastases, having already metastasized locally, resemble their primary breast tumors and as such will be eradicated by the systemic therapy chosen. In this study we investigated the genetic differences between primary breast cancers and their paired LN metastases using array comparative genomic hybridization analyses on a high resolution 720K Nimblegen platform. Thus far, no metastasis-specific genomic aberrations have been identified. We hypothesized that this is due to low-resolution platforms and lack of stratification on breast cancer subtypes (specifically, triple-negative (TN) versus luminal). Furthermore, we speculated that as TN tumours are known to be more genetically unstable, their LN metastases would show an increase in random copy number aberrations (CNAs). Therefore, we studied 10 primary TN breast tumour–LN pairs and 10 luminal pairs and found that all LN metastases clustered nearest to their matched tumour except for two. These two were explained by poor hybridization quality and, interestingly, the presence of two histological components in one tumour. We found no significantly altered CNAs between pairs in the whole group, nor when subdivided over subtypes; neither did we find a CNA increase in LN metastases compared to primary tumours within the TN subgroup, suggesting most CNAs are functional and not random. Our findings suggest a strong clonal relationship between primary breast tumours and its LN metastases and support the use of the primary tumor characteristics to guide adjuvant systemic chemotherapy in breast cancer patients, since primary tumors and their subsequent LN metastases seem remarkably similar, at least prior to treatment. The experiment contains 27 paired primary breast cancer samples with their lymph node metastases, analysed on a 135K whole genome CGH array

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Biomarker heterogeneity between primary breast cancer and synchronous axillary lymph node metastases

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