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Purpose BRCA1/2 mutations are frequent in patients with triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). These patients are often treated with primary systemic chemotherapy. The aim of this study was to analyze the effects of BRCA1/2 mutations on pathologic complete response (pCR) and disease-free survival (DFS) in a cohort of patients with TNBC treated with anthracycline and taxane-containing chemotherapy, with or without bevacizumab. Patients and Methods Germline DNA was sequenced to identify mutations in BRCA1 and BRCA2 in 493 patients with TNBC from the GeparQuinto study. The pCR rates were compared in patients with and without mutation, as well as in patients treated with and without bevacizumab. In addition, the influence of BRCA1/2 mutation status and pCR status on DFS was evaluated relative to treatment. Results BRCA1/2 mutations were detected in 18.3% of patients with TNBC. Overall, patients with mutations had a pCR rate of 50%, compared with 31.5% in patients without a mutation (odds ratio [OR], 2.17; 95% CI, 1.37 to 3.46; P = .001). The pCR rate among patients treated with bevacizumab was 61.5% for BRCA1/2 mutation carriers and 35.6% for those without mutations (OR, 2.90; 95% CI, 1.43 to 5.89; P = .004). pCR was a strong predictor of DFS for patients without BRCA1/2 mutations (hazard ratio, 0.18; 95% CI, 0.11 to 0.31) but not for patients with BRCA1/2 mutations (hazard ratio, 0.74; 95% CI, 0.32 to 1.69). Conclusion The addition of bevacizumab may increase the pCR after standard neoadjuvant chemotherapy for patients with TNBC with BRCA1/2 mutations. In patients treated with anthracycline and taxane-based chemotherapy (with or without bevacizumab), pCR was a weaker predictor of DFS for BRCA1/2 mutation carriers than for patients without mutations.

Purpose: We investigated disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) after response-guided neoadjuvant chemotherapy in patients with early breast cancer., Patients and Methods: We treated 2,072 patients with two cycles of docetaxel, doxorubicin, and cyclophosphamide (TAC) and randomly assigned early responders to four (n = 704) or six (n = 686) additional TAC cycles, and early nonresponders to four cycles of TAC (n = 321) or vinorelbine and capecitabine (NX; n = 301) before surgery., Results: DFS was longer in early responders receiving TAC × 8 than in those receiving TAC × 6 (hazard ratio [HR], 0.78; 95% CI, 0.62 to 0.97; P = .026), and in early nonresponders receiving TAC-NX than in those receiving TAC × 6 (HR, 0.59; 95% CI, 0.49 to 0.82; P = .001). Exploratory analysis showed that DFS after response-guided chemotherapy (TAC × 8 or TAC-NX) was significantly longer (HR, 0.71; 95% CI, 0.60 to 0.85; P < .003), as was OS (HR, 0.79; 95% CI, 0.63 to 0.99; P = .048), than on conventional chemotherapy (TAC × 6). DFS was longer after response-guided chemotherapy in all hormone receptor-positive tumors (luminal A HR = 0.55, luminal B [human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) negative] HR = 0.40, and luminal B [HER2 positive] HR = 0.56), but not in hormone receptor-negative tumors (HER2 positive [nonluminal] HR = 1.01 and triple negative HR = 0.87). Pathologic complete response did not predict these survival effects. pCR predicted an improved DFS in triple-negative (HR = 6.67), HER2-positive (nonluminal; HR 5.24), or luminal B (HER2-negative) tumors (HR = 3.74)., Conclusion: This exploratory analysis suggests that response-guided neoadjuvant chemotherapy might improve survival and is most effective in hormone receptor-positive tumors. If confirmed, the response-guided approach could provide a clinically meaningful advantage for the neoadjuvant over the adjuvant approach in early breast cancer.

Purpose: The exact definition of pathologic complete response (pCR) and its prognostic impact on survival in intrinsic breast cancer subtypes is uncertain., Methods: Tumor response at surgery and its association with long-term outcome of 6,377 patients with primary breast cancer receiving neoadjuvant anthracycline-taxane-based chemotherapy in seven randomized trials were analyzed., Results: Disease-free survival (DFS) was significantly superior in patients with no invasive and no in situ residuals in breast or nodes (n = 955) compared with patients with residual ductal carcinoma in situ only (n = 309), no invasive residuals in breast but involved nodes (n = 186), only focal-invasive disease in the breast (n = 478), and gross invasive residual disease (n = 4,449; P < .001). Hazard ratios for DFS comparing patients with or without pCR were lowest when defined as no invasive and no in situ residuals (0.446) and increased monotonously when in situ residuals (0.523), no invasive breast residuals but involved nodes (0.623), and focal-invasive disease (0.727) were included in the definition. pCR was associated with improved DFS in luminal B/human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) -negative (P = .005), HER2-positive/nonluminal (P < .001), and triple-negative (P < .001) tumors but not in luminal A (P = .39) or luminal B/HER2-positive (P = .45) breast cancer. pCR in HER2-positive (nonluminal) and triple-negative tumors was associated with excellent prognosis., Conclusion: pCR defined as no invasive and no in situ residuals in breast and nodes can best discriminate between patients with favorable and unfavorable outcomes. Patients with noninvasive or focal-invasive residues or involved lymph nodes should not be considered as having achieved pCR. pCR is a suitable surrogate end point for patients with luminal B/HER2-negative, HER2-positive (nonluminal), and triple-negative disease but not for those with luminal B/HER2-positive or luminal A tumors.

Purpose: Poly(adenosine diphosphate-ribose) polymerase (PARP) plays a key role in DNA repair and cellular stress response. Inhibitors of PARP show promising clinical activity in metastatic, triple-negative or BRCA-mutated breast cancer., Patients and Methods: We investigated cytoplasmic PARP (cPARP) and nuclear PARP (nPARP) expression by immunohistochemistry in 638 pretreatment biopsies from patients on the GeparTrio study and evaluated its predictive and prognostic value after neoadjuvant anthracycline/taxane-based chemotherapy., Results: cPARP expression was high in 23.7%, intermediate in 50.9%, and negative in 25.4% of tumors. High cPARP expression was significantly correlated with nonlobular histology (P < .001), undifferentiated grade (P < .001), positive nodal status (P = .049), and negative hormone receptor (HR) status (P < .001) but not with human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) status. Expression was high in 35.5% of triple-negative tumors, 24.6% of HER2-positive tumors, and 18.0% of HR-positive/HER2-negative tumors (P < .001). Pathologic complete response (pCR) rates were 26.5%, 19.1%, and 8.0% in patients with high, intermediate, or negative expression, respectively (P < .001). This predictive effect was most prominent in HR-positive tumors (P = .035) or HER2-negative tumors (P < .001). High cPARP expression was a negative, but not independent, prognostic factor for disease-free survival (DFS; P = .0025) and overall survival (OS; P = .0022). cPARP expression was highly prognostic in patients without a pCR (DFS, P < .001; OS, P < .001) and in patients with HR-positive tumors (DFS, P < .001; OS, P < .001). No such correlations were found for nPARP expression., Conclusion: High cPARP expression correlates with aggressive tumor pattern and predicts high sensitivity to neoadjuvant taxane/anthracycline-based chemotherapy but also unfavorable long-term prognosis. As a potential target for PARP inhibitors, cPARP-positive breast cancer might become a new, clinically relevant entity.

PURPOSE Trastuzumab, a humanized antibody against the human epidermal growth factor receptor type 2 (HER2), has shown high efficacy in breast cancer. We prospectively investigated its efficacy given simultaneously with anthracycline-taxane-based neoadjuvant chemotherapy. PATIENTS AND METHODS Patients with operable or locally advanced, HER2-positive tumors were treated preoperatively with four cycles of epirubicin/cyclophosphamide followed by four cycles of docetaxel with or without capecitabine (EC-T[X]) and trastuzumab 6 mg/kg (with a loading dose of 8 mg/kg) every 3 weeks during all chemotherapy cycles. Patients with HER2-negative tumors treated in the same study with the same chemotherapy but without trastuzumab were used as a reference group. Results Of 1,509 participants, 445 had HER2-positive tumors treated with trastuzumab and chemotherapy. Pathologic complete response (pCR; defined as no invasive or in situ residual tumors in the breast) rate was 31.7%, which was 16% higher than that in the reference group (15.7%). HER2-positive patients without response to the first four cycles of EC showed an unexpectedly high pCR rate of 16.6% (3.3% in the reference group). Breast conservation rate was 63.1% and comparable to that of the reference group (64.7%). EC-T(X) plus trastuzumab was associated with more febrile neutropenia and conjunctivitis, but with a comparable short-term cardiac toxicity profile as the reference group. CONCLUSION This trial confirms that combining trastuzumab with anthracycline-taxane-based neoadjuvant chemotherapy results in a high pCR rate without clinically relevant early toxicity. Combination of chemotherapy with trastuzumab should be considered when neoadjuvant treatment is given to patients with HER2-positive breast cancer.

PURPOSE Capecitabine can be integrated either concomitantly or sequentially to anthracycline-plus-taxane-based regimens. PATIENTS AND METHODS Patients with large operable or locally advanced tumors, with hormone receptor-negative tumors, or with receptor-positive tumors but also clinically node-positive disease were recruited to receive preoperatively four cycles of epirubicin plus cyclophosphamide (EC; epirubicin 90 mg/m(2) and cyclophosphamide 600 mg/m(2)). Patients were then randomly assigned to four cycles of docetaxel (100 mg/m(2)), four cycles of docetaxel + capecitabine (TX; docetaxel 75 mg/m(2) plus capecitabine 1,800 mg/m(2)), or four cycles of docetaxel (75 mg/m(2)) followed by four cycles of capecitabine (1,800 mg/m(2); T-X). Patients with human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER-2) -positive tumors received trastuzumab concomitantly with all cycles. Primary objectives were to assess the effect of docetaxel by comparing EC plus docetaxel versus EC plus TX and to assess the effect of duration by comparing EC plus TX versus EC plus T-X on pathologic complete response (pCR, without invasive/noninvasive breast tumor, regardless of nodal status) at surgery, irrespective of trastuzumab treatment. Results Of 1,509 patients starting EC, 1,421 were randomly assigned to docetaxel (n = 471), TX (n = 471), or T-X (n = 479). At surgery, pCR rates were 22.3%, 19.5%, and 22.3%, respectively; the difference for docetaxel (EC plus docetaxel v EC plus TX) was 2.8% (95% CI, -2.4% to 8.0%; P = .298).The difference for duration was -2.8% (95% CI, -8.0% to 2.4%; P = .298). Breast conservation rates were 70.1%, 68.4%, and 65.3%, respectively (P = .781 for docetaxel; P = .270 for duration). Concomitant but not sequential treatment with docetaxel was associated with more diarrhea; nail changes, and hand-foot-syndrome, but it was associated with less edema. CONCLUSION Adding capecitabine to or prolonging duration of neoadjuvant EC plus docetaxel does not result in higher efficacy at surgery.

PURPOSE Neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by mastectomy is the treatment of choice in patients with inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) or locally advanced breast cancer (LABC), but it is considered less effective in these diseases than in operable breast cancer (OBC). We report a prospective comparison of the GeparTrio trial of patients with IBC (cT4 days) or LABC (cT4a-c or cN3; stage IIIB or IIIC) and patients with OBC (cT2-3). PATIENTS AND METHODS Participants were stratified by stage and were randomly assigned to six or eight cycles of docetaxel/doxorubicin/cyclophosphamide (TAC) or to two cycles of TAC followed by four cycles of vinorelbine/capecitabine. We present results of a secondary aim of the study, which was to compare pathologic complete response (pCR; ie, no remaining invasive/noninvasive tumor in breast and lymph nodes) in different stage groups. Results A total of 287 patients with IBC (n = 93) or LABC (n = 194) and 1,777 patients with OBC were entered onto the trial. At baseline, parameters were as follows for the three types of cancer, respectively: median tumor sizes: 8.0 cm, 7.0 cm, and 4.0 cm (P < .001); multiple lesions: 31.2%, 27.3%, and 19.6% (P < .001); nodal involvement: 86.6%, 71.2%, and 51.6% (P < .001); grade 3: 44.4%, 30.4%, and 39.9% (P = .178); lobular-invasive type: 7.5%, 17.5%, and 13.3% (P = .673); negative hormone receptor status: 38.0%, 20.0%, and 36.4% (P = .008); and positive human growth factor receptor 2 status: 45.1%, 38.9%, and 35.7% (P = .158). Response rates for IBC, LABC, and OBC, respectively, were 8.6%, 11.3%, and 17.7% for pCR (P = .002); 71.0%, 69.6%, and 83.4% for overall response by physical or sonographic examination (P < .001); and 12.9%, 33.0%, and 69.9% for breast conservation (P < .001). All P values were for IBC and LABC versus OBC. However, tumor stage itself was not an independent predictor for pCR in multivariable analysis (odds ratio, 1.51; 95% CI, 0.88 to 2.59; P = .13). CONCLUSION No evidence of a difference in response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy was found by tumor stage when analysis was adjusted for baseline characteristics.

Purpose: In postmenopausal women with estrogen receptor-positive early breast cancer, surgery is usually followed by a 5-year course of tamoxifen. This report presents results of a prospective, open-label, randomized study, designed to evaluate the benefits of switching to anastrozole after 2 years of tamoxifen treatment, compared with continuing on tamoxifen for 5 years., Patients and Methods: After receiving tamoxifen treatment for 2 years, eligible patients (n = 979) were randomly assigned to switch to anastrozole (1 mg/d) or continue tamoxifen (20 or 30 mg/d) for an additional 3 years. Patients were monitored every 6 months during years 1 to 3 and annually thereafter. The primary efficacy variable was disease-free survival, including local or distant recurrence, new contralateral breast cancer, or death. Secondary variables were overall survival and assessment of safety., Results: Switching to anastrozole resulted in a significant reduction in the risk of disease recurrence (hazard ratio [HR], 0.66; 95% CI, 0.44 to 1.00; P = .049), and improved overall survival (HR, 0.53; 95% CI, 0.28 to 0.99; P = .045) compared with continuing on tamoxifen. Fewer patients who switched to anastrozole reported serious adverse events (22.7% v 30.8%) compared with those who continued on tamoxifen, mainly due to more patients in the tamoxifen group with endometrial events. The overall safety profile for anastrozole was consistent with previous reports and no new safety issues were identified., Conclusion: Postmenopausal women who have taken tamoxifen for 2 years as adjuvant therapy are less likely to experience a recurrence of breast cancer and have improved overall survival if they switch to anastrozole compared with continuing to receive tamoxifen.

Purpose: Dose-dense and sequential administration of cytotoxic drugs are current approaches to improve outcomes in patients with early-stage breast cancer., Methods: This phase III study investigated 913 women with untreated operable breast cancer (T2-3, N0-2, M0) randomly assigned to receive either doxorubicin 50 mg/m2 plus docetaxel 75 mg/m2 every 14 days for four cycles with filgrastim support (ADOC), or doxorubicin 60 mg/m2 plus cyclophosphamide 600 mg/m2 every 21 days followed by docetaxel 100 mg/m2 every 21 days for four cycles each (AC-DOC). The primary end point was the incidence of pathologic complete (invasive and noninvasive) response (pCR) in the breast and axillary nodes. Secondary end points were predictors for pCR, clinical response, rate of breast conservation, and safety., Results: A pCR was achieved in 94 patients (10.6%), but the likelihood was significantly greater with AC-DOC (14.3%; n = 63) than with ADOC (7.0%; n = 31) (odds ratio, 2.22; 90% CI, 1.52 to 3.24; P < .001). Independent predictors of attaining a pCR included the use of sequential therapy, high tumor grade, and negative hormone receptor status. The response rates detected by palpation and by imaging were significantly higher with AC-DOC (85.0% and 78.6%, respectively) than with ADOC (75.2% and 68.6%, respectively; both P values < .001). The rate of breast-conserving surgery was 63.4% for AC-DOC and 58.1% for ADOC (P = .05). Predominant grade 3/4 toxicities were leucopenia (AC-DOC, 74.2%; ADOC, 53.7%) and neutropenia (AC-DOC, 66.4%; ADOC, 44.7%) but were infrequently associated with fever (AC-DOC, 4.6%; ADOC, 3.1%)., Conclusion: Sequential AC-DOC is more effective at inducing pCR than dose-dense ADOC as preoperative treatment for patients with operable breast cancer.

Purpose: To investigate the effect of adding tamoxifen to a preoperative dose-dense doxorubicin and docetaxel regimen on the pathologic response of primary operable breast cancer., Patients and Methods: Patients (tumor size > or = 3 cm, N0 to 2, M0) were prospectively randomized to receive every 14 days a total of four cycles of doxorubicin 50 mg/m2 and docetaxel 75 mg/m(2), either with (ADocT) or without (ADoc) simultaneous tamoxifen. Granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) was routinely given on days 5 to 10. Surgery followed 8 to 10 weeks after the start of treatment., Results: Within 14 months, 250 patients were included in the study at 56 centers. Of 992 planned cycles, 97.9% were administered. Pathologically complete remission (pCR) with no detectable viable tumor cells was achieved in 9.7%. There was a nonsignificant difference of -1.2% in favor of ADoc, with a 95% confidence interval of -8.6% to 6.2%. A further 2.4% had only noninvasive tumor residues, and 13.8% had focal invasive residues. Complete and partial responses detected by palpation were observed in 28.9% and 52.4%, respectively. The response rates (complete and partial) by best appropriate imaging methods were 77.5% and 67.5% for ADocT and ADoc, respectively. Breast conservation was possible in 68.8% of the patients. A tendency toward more frequent toxic events was observed with ADocT treatment. Significant predictors of pCR to chemotherapy were negative lymph node and negative estrogen receptor status., Conclusion: A dose-dense regimen of ADoc with G-CSF offers high compliance, moderate toxicity, and rapid efficacy as a form of preoperative chemotherapy in operable breast cancer. Concurrent treatment with tamoxifen for 8 weeks could not improve the pathologic response rate.

Purpose: We report two randomized trials of adjuvant systemic therapy in 747 patients < or = 65 years of age with histologically proven node-positive breast cancer., Patients and Methods: Patients were selected for the two trials on the basis of lymph node and hormone receptor status. The only stratification was based on the treating institution. In patients with a lower probability of recurrence (n = 276), a comparison between endocrine therapy (tamoxifen [Tam] 30 mg/d for 2 years) and chemotherapy (cyclophosphamide, methotrexate, and fluorouracil [CMF] intravenously [IV], six cycles every 4 weeks) was performed. In patients with a higher risk of recurrence (n = 471), a comparison between chemotherapy alone (doxorubicin plus cyclophosphamide [AC] i.v., eight cycles every 3 weeks) and the same chemotherapy plus Tam was made., Results: Overall, we found that CMF and Tam are equally effective in a subgroup of patients with a relatively good prognosis (low-risk patients). However, in the subset of women < or = 49 years old, a significantly greater disease-free survival (DFS) rate (P = .01) and overall survival (OS) rate (P = .002) was observed following therapy with CMF compared with Tam. In patients > or = 50 years old, the opposite was found, and Tam appeared to be superior to CMF (DFS, P = .003; OSm P = .5). These results must be interpreted cautiously, since a post-hoc stratification of patients by age (< or = 49, > or = 50) was performed, and significantly more younger, low-risk patients were randomized to receive chemotherapy alone and more older patients to receive Tam alone. Among patients with a relatively poor prognosis (high-risk patients), a combination of AC plus Tam was equivalent to AC and, when women were analyzed by age, this was found to be true of patients < or = 49 years as well. However, the addition of Tam to AC in women age > or 50 years resulted in a statistically significantly higher DFS (P = .01) and a trend toward better OS compared with women who received AC alone., Conclusion: Further trials are required to analyze the role of combined simultaneous or sequential chemoendocrine adjuvant treatment or each single therapy alone in defined risk-adapted subsets of node-negative and node-positive patients.

One hundred thirty-four pre- and perimenopausal patients presenting with metastatic breast cancer (median age, 42 years; range, 25 to 55) were treated with goserelin (Zoladex [ICI 118 630]; ICI Pharma, Plankstadt, Germany) a long-acting gonadotrophin-releasing hormone (GnRH)-analogue depot formulation, injected subcutaneously every 4 weeks, as a first-line therapy. One hundred eighteen patients were evaluable for response. Serum concentrations of estradiol, luteinizing hormones (LH), and follicle-stimulating hormones were significantly suppressed by Zoladex. Mean serum estradiol values fell into the range of castrated or postmenopausal women within 2 to 3 weeks of therapy. This suppression was maintained for the duration of therapy. Overall objective response was: 12 (10.2%) complete remission; 41 (34.7%) partial remission; 33 (28.0%) no change; and 32 (27.1%) progression. In responders, the median time to response was 4 months (range, 2 to 11 months), median duration of response was 8 + months (range 2 to 24 months), and median time to progression was 11 + months (range, 5 to 30 months). Objective responses were seen for different sites of metastases: loco-regional (62.5%), bone (46.7%), visceral (45.0%), and multiple (35.1%). Tumor remission was more common in patients in which the primary tumor was estrogen receptor (ER)-positive (49.3%) or ER-unknown (44.0%), but appreciable response rates were also observed in ER-poor patients (33.3%). Zoladex depot was well tolerated both locally and systemically. It produced effective castration and the objective response rates and duration of remission are at least comparable to those seen following oophorectomy; however, the side effects are less. The use of depot Zoladex avoids the psychological trauma and operative morbidity of the irreversible operative castration.