Patient Reported Outcome in metastatic breast cancer and platinum-resistant recurrent ovarian cancer treated with metronomic cyclophosphamide ± methotrexate: PROmetronomic - FoR.UM 19-02193

Prognostic Significance of Focal Adhesion Kinase in Node-Negative Breast Cancer.

<b><i>Background:</i></b> Focal adhesion kinase (FAK) is a cytoplasmic tyrosine kinase that plays an important role as a mediator of cell migration, invasion, proliferation and survival. Conflicting results for the prognostic role of FAK in breast cancer (BC) prompted us to determine its impact. <b><i>Methods:</i></b> Patients with node-negative BC entered this retrospective study. FAK expression was determined by immunohistochemistry (n = 335). The prognostic impact of FAK was examined with Cox regression analyses and Kaplan-Meier estimation in the whole cohort as well as in different molecular subtypes. <b><i>Results:</i>&l…

Gene Expression Analyses in Early Breast Carcinoma — Quo Vadis?

AbstractIn order to establish whether adjuvant therapy should be administered in patients with breast carcinoma, it is decisive to have as precise as possible an assessment of the risk of recurrence. In this context, gene expression — and thus gene expression signatures as well — have become a focus of attention as prognostic factors. For practical application, it is important to be able to analyze gene expression signatures in formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tumor tissue. Careful analytic and clinical validations and a high level of evidence (LoE) are required in order to avoid imprecise risk classification and thus potential overtreatment or undertreatment of the patients. Among the com…

Targeted Therapies Overcoming Endocrine Resistance in Hormone Receptor-Positive Breast Cancer

Breast cancer is a heterogeneous disease with different molecular subtypes. Most tumours are hormone receptor positive (luminal subtype) with potential endocrine responsiveness. Endocrine therapy is commonly used in these patients. Disease progression caused by endocrine resistance represents a significant challenge in the treatment of breast cancer. To understand the mechanisms of resistance of long-term oestrogen-deprived breast cancer cells, it is important to focus on cross-talk between steroid receptor signalling and other growth factor receptors and intracellular pathways. (Pre-)clinical trials showed that co-targeting these pathways can restore endocrine sensitivity. The focus of the…

Prognostic Significance of Interferon-γ and Its Signaling Pathway in Early Breast Cancer Depends on the Molecular Subtypes

Interferons are crucial for adaptive immunity and play an important role in the immune landscape of breast cancer. Using microarray-based gene expression analysis, we examined the subtype-specific prognostic significance of interferon-&gamma

70 Patient reported outcome in platinum-resistant recurrent ovarian cancer and metastatic breast cancer treated with metronomic chemotherapy

Introduction/Background* In the treatment of both platinum-resistant recurrent ovarian cancer (ROC) and metastatic breast cancer (MBC), symptom control and maintenance of quality of life (QoL) play a crucial role. In the advanced stage of disease, metronomic chemotherapy (MCT) may be a favourable treatment option. The aim of this study is to assess the QoL of heavily pretreated patients with ROC and MBC treated with MCT. Methodology PROmetronomic, FoR.UM 19-02193, is a monocentric, open-label, single-arm observational study to assess health-related patient-reported outcome data in ROC and MBC patients treated with MCT (cyclophosphamide 50 mg p.o. daily ± methotrexate 2.5 mg p.o. every other…

Prognostic significance of Focal Adhesion Kinase (FAK) in node-negative breast cancer.

552 Background: Focal adhesion kinase (FAK) is a cytoplasmic tyrosine kinase playing an important role as a key mediator for signal transduction. We examined the subtype specific prognostic signifi...

Preexisting musculoskeletal burden and its development under letrozole treatment in early breast cancer patients

One of the most common adverse events (AEs) occurring during treatment with aromatase inhibitors (AIs) is musculoskeletal pain. The aim of our study was to analyze the influence of preexisting muscle/limb pain and joint pain on the development of AI-induced musculoskeletal AEs. Women eligible for upfront adjuvant endocrine therapy with letrozole were included in the PreFace study, a multicenter phase IV trial. During the first treatment year, they were asked to record musculoskeletal AEs monthly by answering questions regarding pain symptoms and rating the pain intensity on a numeric rating scale from 0 (no pain) to 10 (very strong pain). Pain values were compared using nonparametric statis…

A retrospective analysis of immunohistochemical determined IRF4 (interferon regulating factor 4) expression in a consecutive cohort of 114 ovarian cancer patients

c-met is overexpressed in type I ovarian cancer: Results of an investigative analysis in a cohort of consecutive ovarian cancer patients

The tyrosine kinase c-met alters signaling cascades such as the BRAF-MAPK and PI3K-PKB pathways. These alterations are involved in the carcinogenesis of type I but not type II ovarian cancer (OC). Therefore, the present study investigated the patterns of c-met expression in a cohort of consecutive patients with OC. c-met expression was determined by immunohistochemical analysis. Differences in c-met overexpression among subgroups of established clinicopathological features, including age, histological subtype, tumor stage, histological grading, post-operative tumor burden and completeness of chemotherapy, were determined by χ2 test. Cox regression analyses were performed to determine the pr…

Prognostic Impact of Immunoglobulin Kappa C in Breast Cancer Patients Treated with Adjuvant Chemotherapy.

<b><i>Introduction:</i></b> Immunoglobulin κC (IGKC)-positive tumor-infiltrating plasma cells are associated with better prognosis in node-negative breast cancer patients without adjuvant systemic therapy. In the present study we evaluated the prognostic significance of IGKC in breast cancer patients treated with adjuvant chemotherapy ± tamoxifen. <b><i>Methods:</i></b> IGKC expression was immunohistochemically analyzed in 193 breast cancer patients who were treated with adjuvant chemotherapy, either with cyclophosphamide, methotrexate, and 5-fluorouracil (CMF) or 5-fluorouracil, epirubicin, and cyclophosphamide (FEC) between 1993 and 2001 wit…