Breast Cancer

Studies over the last two decades have identified that amplified human epidermal growth factor receptor (HER-2; c-erbB-2, neu) and its overexpression have been frequently implicated in the carcinogenesis and prognosis in a variety of solid tumours, especially breast cancer. Lots of painstaking efforts were invested on the HER-2 targeted agents, and significantly improved outcome and prolonged the survival of patients. However, some patients classified as 'HER-2-positive' would be still resistant to the anti-HER-2 therapy...

OBJECTIVE: Diagnosis of breast cancer in young patients (≤35) correlates with a worse prognosis compared to their older counterparts (>35). The aim of this study is to evaluate the relevance of clinical-pathologic factors and prognosis in young (≤35) breast cancer patients. METHODS: One hundred thirty-two patients of operable breast cancer who were younger than 35 are analyzed in this study. They were treated in our hospital between January 2006 and December 2012...

For the first time, this year's St. Gallen International Consensus Conference on the treatment of patients with primary breast cancer, which takes place every two years, was held not in St. Gallen (Switzerland) but - for logistical reasons - in Vienna (Austria) under its usual name. The 2015 St. Gallen International Consensus Conference was the 14th of its kind. As the international panel of the St. Gallen conference consists of experts from different countries, the consensus mirrors an international cross-section of opinions...

BACKGROUND/AIM: Trastuzumab therapy, the standard treatment for human epidermal growth factor receptor type-2 (HER2)-positive breast cancer, is associated with possible cardiotoxicity. We set out to retrospectively analyze the cardiac follow-up data of patients with breast cancer receiving trastuzumab treatment. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The study involved 47 and 31 patients receiving adjuvant or palliative chemotherapy plus trastuzumab, respectively. Cardiovascular system assessments including echocardiography were regularly performed...

AIM: To compare results of trastuzumab-emtansine (T-DM1) treatment in our clinical practice with data from phase III clinical trials. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A retrospective chart review of all 23 patients with metastatic human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-positive breast cancer who were started on T-DM1 until April 2014 was performed. RESULTS: Four patients (17.4%) received T-DM1 as first-line, three (13.0%) as second-line, six (26...

PURPOSE: To provide recommendations on the appropriate use of breast tumor biomarker assay results to guide decisions on systemic therapy for metastatic breast cancer. METHODS: A literature search and prospectively defined study selection identified systematic reviews, meta-analyses, randomized controlled trials (RCTs), prospective-retrospective studies, and prospective comparative observational studies published from 2006 through September 2014. RESULTS: The literature search revealed 17 articles that met criteria for further review: 11 studies reporting discordances between primary tumors and metastases in expression of hormone receptors or human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2), one RCT that addressed the use of a biomarker to decide whether to change or continue a treatment regimen, and five prospective-retrospective studies that evaluated the clinical utility of biomarkers...

The development of precision medicine for the management of metastatic breast cancer is an appealing concept; however, major scientific and logistical challenges hinder its implementation in the clinic. The identification of driver mutational events remains the biggest challenge, because, with the few exceptions of ER, HER2, PIK3CA and AKT1, no validated oncogenic drivers of breast cancer exist. The development of bioinformatic tools to help identify driver mutations, together with assessment of pathway activation and dependency should help resolve this issue in the future...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

Cisplatin is widely used for the treatment of numerous types of cancer, while its application is limited by the adverse side effects for its poor selectivity. Trastuzumab is a highly targeting protein to HER2 protein, and it is usually combined with paclitaxel or cisplatin for the treatment of HER2-overexpressing breast cancer. In the present work, we used trastuzumab as a targeting carrier for platinum drug delivery. In ELISA assays and immunofluorescence study, Tmab-1 exhibited high and specific binding affinity to HER2 protein and HER2-overexpressing SK-BR-3 cells...

Breast cancer tumors that demonstrate gene amplification or overexpression of human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) are classified as HER2-positive. They account for approximately 15% of all breast cancers and represent an adverse prognostic factor. Over the past years, many new therapies have become available for the treatment of breast cancer. Particularly, the treatment of patients with HER2-positive breast cancer has developed with the arrival of anti-HER2 targeted therapies that have been proven to increase survival in both the metastatic and early-stage settings of the disease...

BACKGROUND: MRI might improve diagnosis of breast cancer, reducing rates of reoperation. We assessed the clinical efficacy of contrast-enhanced MRI in women with primary breast cancer. METHODS: We undertook an open, parallel group trial in 45 UK centres, with 1623 women aged 18 years or older with biopsy-proven primary breast cancer who were scheduled for wide local excision after triple assessment. Patients were randomly assigned to receive either MRI (n=816) or no further imaging (807), with use of a minimisation algorithm incorporating a random element...

PURPOSE: We conducted a randomized phase III study to determine whether patients with early breast cancer would benefit from the addition of capecitabine (X) to a standard regimen of doxorubicin (A) plus cyclophosphamide (C) followed by docetaxel (T). EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: Treatment comprised eight cycles of AC→T (T dose: 100 mg/m(2) on day 1) or AC→XT (X dose: 825 mg/m(2) twice daily, days 1-14; T dose: 75 mg/m(2) on day 1). The primary endpoint was 5-year disease-free survival (DFS)...

BACKGROUND: No single standard treatment exists for patients with small, node-negative, human epidermal growth factor receptor type 2 (HER2)-positive breast cancers, because most of these patients have been ineligible for the pivotal trials of adjuvant trastuzumab. METHODS: We performed an uncontrolled, single-group, multicenter, investigator-initiated study of adjuvant paclitaxel and trastuzumab in 406 patients with tumors measuring up to 3 cm in greatest dimension...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

INTRODUCTION: Despite the availability of several therapeutic options for metastatic breast cancer (MBC), no robust predictive factors are available to help clinical decision making. Nevertheless, a decreasing benefit from first line to subsequent lines of treatment is commonly observed. The aim of this study was to assess the impact of benefit from first-line therapy on outcome with subsequent lines. METHODS: We analyzed a consecutive series of 472 MBC patients treated with chemotherapy (CT) and/or endocrine therapy (ET) between 2004 and 2012...