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Background The aim of the study was to compare the patterns of care and clinical outcomes of HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer (MBC) patients with de novo or recurrent disease who underwent first-line trastuzumab-based therapy. Patients and Methods This was a multicenter retrospective cohort study including consecutive patients with HER2-positive MBC who received first-line trastuzumab-based therapy. Analyses on treatment response and effectiveness were conducted according to type of metastatic presentation (ie, de novo vs. recurrent disease). Exploratory analyses were used to evaluate whether the use of surgery of the primary tumor in the de novo cohort influenced patients' survival. Results From January 2000 to December 2013, 416 patients were included in the study, 113 (27.2%) presented with de novo MBC and 303 (72.8%) with recurrent disease. Compared with patients in the recurrence cohort, those in the de novo cohort had worse baseline characteristics, received more aggressive first-line treatments, and showed better survival, with an adjusted hazard ratio (HR) for progression-free survival (PFS) of 0.65 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.43-0.97; P = .035) and for overall survival (OS) of 0.53 (95% CI, 0.30-0.95; P = .034). In the de novo cohort, the 54 patients (47.8%) who underwent surgery of the primary tumor had significantly better PFS (adjusted HR, 0.44; 95% CI, 0.26-0.72; P = .001) and OS (adjusted HR, 0.49; 95% CI, 0.26-0.93; P = .029) than those who did not undergo surgery. Conclusion Patients with de novo HER2-positive MBC showed significantly better survival outcomes than those with recurrent disease. In this population, surgery of the primary breast tumor was associated with better outcomes.

The study was designed to compare an anthracycline-containing regimen to a regimen combining both anthracycline and paclitaxel as adjuvant therapy for high-risk breast cancer patients. In this multicenter, randomized phase-III trial, node-positive early breast cancer patients were randomly assigned to receive either 6 cycles of FEC (5-fluorouracil 600 mg/m(2), epirubicin 60 mg/m(2) and cyclophosphamide 600 mg/m(2), day 1, every 3 weeks) or 4 cycles of EP (epirubicin 90 mg/m(2) and paclitaxel 175 mg/m(2), day 1, every 3 weeks). The primary endpoint was overall survival (OS). Secondary endpoints included toxicity and event-free survival (EFS). From 1996 to 2001, 1055 patients were enrolled. At a median follow-up of 12.8 years, 335 deaths had been recorded. The 10-year OS was 73 % (95 % CI 69-77) in the FEC arm and 74 % (95 % CI 70-78) in the EP arm (p = 0.405). The 10-year EFS was 51 % (95 % CI 45-56) in the FEC arm and 49 % (95 % CI 44-55) in the EP arm (p = 0.572). No difference in the hazard of death was observed (HR for EP 0.85, 95 % CI 0.68-1.06, p = 0.15). Patients treated with FEC experienced more frequently nausea and vomiting, stomatitis, and leukopenia as compared to patients treated with EP. Toxicities which occurred more frequently with EP were anemia, fever, myalgias, and neurotoxicity. Our study failed to demonstrate a superiority of an adjuvant treatment with four EP as compared to six FEC in node -positive breast cancer patients.

© 2015 Taylor & Francis, Introduction: Neutropenia and febrile neutropenia are the most common and most severe bone marrow toxicities of chemotherapy. Recombinant granulocyte-colony stimulating factors (G-CSFs), both daily (filgrastim and biosimilars, and lenograstim) and long-acting (pegfilgrastim and lipegfilgrastim) formulations, are currently available to counteract the negative consequences of these side effects. Areas covered: The purpose of this article is to review the physiopathology of chemotherapy-induced febrile neutropenia and its consequences, and the current evidence regarding the pharmacological properties, clinical efficacy and cost-effectiveness of pegfilgrastim as a strategy to prevent chemotherapy-induced febrile neutropenia in patients with solid tumors. Expert opinion: Chemotherapy-induced febrile neutropenia and its complications are still a major health-care concern, and the inappropriate employment of G-CSFs in clinical practice can partially explain its burden. Pegfilgrastim has pharmacological advantages over daily G-CSFs that makes it easily administrable, thus reducing the chance of incorrect delivery. The once-per-cycle administration might explain the findings derived from observational studies suggesting a possible superior efficacy of pegfilgrastim over daily G-CSFs. For patients at higher risk of failure with daily G-CSF prophylaxis (e.g. risk of non-compliance, difficulties on performing regular hemograms, high risk of developing febrile neutropenia), pegfilgrastim might be the most appropriate option.

Patients who received gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonist (GnRHa) with chemotherapy were compared with patients who were treated with chemotherapy alone to determine whether GnRHa can increase the pregnancy rate in survivors. The results indicated that adding GnRHa to chemotherapy significantly increases the odds ratio for spontaneous conception, in addition to cyclic ovarian function. It is suggested that GnRHa cotreatment should be added before and during gonadotoxic chemotherapy.

The diagnosis of breast cancer during pregnancy (BCP) represents a unique challenge to the patient, her family and the treating physician. The proper management of this critical clinical situation is crucial, and requires a multidisciplinary approach. A proper understanding of the safety of chemotherapy during pregnancy is a vital step to avoid detrimental consequences on the mother and the fetus.The aim of this article is to review the available evidence on the safety of chemotherapy administration in managing BCP.The rule of thumb of chemotherapy - avoiding first trimester exposure and starting therapy in the second trimester - can be considered applicable for classic agents that are used in managing pregnant breast cancer patients. Anthracycline-based regimens are considered the standard of care in managing BCP. Recently, a growing amount of data suggests the safety of taxanes during pregnancy. Pregnancy in cancer patients should be considered as "high risk": once the systemic treatment is initiated, regular fetal monitoring is highly recommended. Emerging data are available on the relative long-term safety secondary to anthracycline exposure during pregnancy. A continued monitoring of the health of individuals with prenatal exposure to chemotherapy into adulthood is recommended for the possible occurrence of long-term side effects.

Aim To assess patient perception toward oral chemotherapy for solid tumors, the Italian Association of Medical Oncology performed a large multi-institutional national survey. Methods A 17-item anonymous questionnaire including 7 general and 10 investigational questions with free-text, single-choice, or multiple-choice answers was administered. Analysis of response distribution according to predefined factors was described by summary measures and conducted by χ2 test and other nonparametric tests. Results From January to June 2010, 581 patients completed the questionnaire; data of 404 patients constituted the final study sample. Three groups could be distinguished according to treatment: IV chemotherapy (IV group, n = 313), oral chemotherapy (oral group, n = 48), or combined therapy (combined group, n = 43). Thirty-one (72%) patients in the combined group and 187 (60%) in the IV group expressed preference for oral therapy (p = 0.028). Limitations in family and work commitment were more frequently perceived by patients on IV than oral chemotherapy (147 (47%) vs 14 (29%) patients, pConclusions We observed a propensity from the patient perspective in favor of oral chemotherapy that was considered to have a lower impact on family and work commitments than IV chemotherapy. The treatment that patients were taking when the questionnaire was administered likely influenced their perception and related results.

O tratamento de alimentos por um tipo de radiação ionizante para promover a segurança microbiológica e a conservação é uma das tecnologias do século XX mais extensivamente estudadas1. O tratamento pela radiação, como todo e qualquer processamento de alimentos, apresenta uma faixa limitada de aplicação. Inúmeros estudos atestam que esse tratamento de produtos alimentícios, nas condições determinadas para o objetivo proposto, pode ser uma ferramenta poderosa contra perdas de alimentos, bem como se constitui no melhor método disponível para controlar doenças transmitidas por alimentos. Também, as pesquisas revelam que certos produtos podem ser beneficiados por algumas ações específicas da interação deste método físico com os componentes dos alimentos. O desconhecimento do grande público em relação ao processo em si e as alterações que podem ocorrer nos produtos assim processados são hoje o fator limitante para sua aplicação em grande escala. As autoridades da área da saúde são os componentes da sociedade com maior credibilidade. Assim, devem ser desenvolvidas maiores oportunidades de intercâmbio de informações entre aquelas e o meio acadêmico que pode esclarecer as dúvidas e propiciar o esclarecimento das vantagens e limitações do processo quando aplicado em produtos alimentícios.

Aims and background The aim of this retrospective multicenter study was to evaluate the impact of progesterone receptor (PgR) loss on locoregional recurrence in patients with estrogen receptor (ER)-positive primary breast cancer and ER-positive locoregional recurrence. Patients and Methods Eight Italian oncology centers collected data from consecutive patients with ER-positive breast cancer and a subsequent ER-positive locoregional recurrence. Results Data were available for 265 patients diagnosed with breast cancer between 1990 and 2009. Median metastasis-free survival was 111 months in patients with PgR-positive primary tumors and locoregional recurrence (PgRpos), 38 months in patients with PgR-negative primary tumors and locoregional recurrence (PgRneg), and 63 months in patients with PgR-positive primary tumors and PgR-negative locoregional recurrence (PgRloss). In multivariate analysis, PgR status was independently associated with metastasis-free survival, with a hazard ratio of 2.84 (95% CI 1.34-6.00) for PgRneg compared with PgRpos, and 2.93 (95% CI: 1.51-5.70) for PgRloss compared with PgRpos. Conclusions PgR absence was found to be a negative prognostic factor in breast cancer patients with ER-positive locoregional recurrence. Thus, PgR status could be a biological marker in ER-positive recurrent breast cancer.

Background Whether addition of fluorouracil to epirubicin, cyclophosphamide, and paclitaxel (EC-P) is favourable in adjuvant treatment of patients with node-positive breast cancer is controversial, as is the benefit of increased density of dosing. We aimed to address these questions in terms of improvements in disease-free survival. Methods In this 2 × 2 factorial, open-label, phase 3 trial, we enrolled patients aged 18-70 years with operable, node positive, early-stage breast cancer from 81 Italian centres. Eligible patients were randomly allocated in a 1:1:1:1 ratio with a centralised, interactive online system to receive either dose-dense chemotherapy (administered intravenously every 2 weeks with pegfilgrastim support) with fluorouracil plus EC-P (FEC-P) or EC-P or to receive standard-interval chemotherapy (administered intravenously every 3 weeks) with FEC-P or EC-P. The primary study endpoint was disease-free survival, assessed with the Kaplan-Meier method in the intention-to-treat population. Our primary comparisons were between dose schedule (every 2 weeks vs every 3 weeks) and dose type (FEC-P vs EC-P). This study is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT00433420. Findings Between April 24, 2003, and July 3, 2006, we recruited 2091 patients. 88 patients were enrolled in centres that only provided standard-intensity dosing. After a median follow-up of 7·0 years (interquartile range [IQR] 4·5-6·3), 140 (26%) of 545 patients given EC-P every 3 weeks, 157 (29%) of 544 patients given FEC-P every 3 weeks, 111 (22%) of 502 patients given EC-P every 2 weeks, and 113 (23%) of 500 patients given FEC-P every 2 weeks had a disease-free survival event. For the dose-density comparison, disease-free survival at 5 years was 81% (95% CI 79-84) in patients treated every 2 weeks and 76% (74-79) in patients treated every 3 weeks (HR 0·77, 95% CI 0·65-0·92; p=0·004); overall survival rates at 5 years were 94% (93-96) and 89% (87-91; HR 0·65, 0·51-0·84; p=0·001) and for the chemotherapy-type comparison, disease-free survival at 5 years was 78% (75-81) in the FEC-P groups and 79% (76-82) in the EC-P groups (HR 1·06, 0·89-1·25; p=0·561); overall survival rates at 5 years were 91% (89-93) and 92% (90-94; 1·16, 0·91-1·46; p=0·234). Compared with 3 week dosing, chemotherapy every 2 weeks was associated with increased rate of grade 3-4 of anaemia (14 [1·4%] of 988 patients vs two [0·2%] of 984 patients; p=0·002); transaminitis (19 [1·9%] vs four [0·4%]; p=0·001), and myalgias (31 [3·1%] vs 16 [1·6%]; p=0·019), and decreased rates of grade 3-4 neutropenia (147 [14·9%] vs 433 [44·0%]; p

Background. We evaluated the patterns of care and clinical outcomes of metastatic breast cancer patients treated with first-line trastuzumab-based therapy after previous (neo)adjuvant trastuzumab. Materials and Methods. A total of 416 consecutive, HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer patients who had received first-line trastuzumab-based therapy were identified at 14 Italian centers. A total of 113 patients had presented with de novo stage IV disease and were analyzed separately. Dichotomous clinical outcomes were analyzed using logistic regression and time-to-event outcomes using Cox proportional hazards models. Results. In the 202 trastuzumab-naïve patients and 101 patients with previous trastuzumab exposure, we observed the following outcomes, respectively: overall response rate, 69.9% versus 61.3% (adjusted odds ratio [OR], 0.62; p = .131), clinical benefit rate, 79.1% versus 72.5% (adjusted OR, 0.73; p = .370), median progression-free survival (PFS), 16.1 months versus 12.0 months (adjusted hazards ratio [HR], 1.33; p = .045), and median overall survival (OS), 52.2 months versus 48.2 months (adjusted HR, 1.18; p = .404). Patients with a trastuzumab-free interval (TFI) Conclusion. Despite the inferior median PFS, trastuzumab-based therapy was an effective first-line treatment for patients relapsing after (neo)adjuvant trastuzumab. Previous trastuzumab exposure and the respective TFI, type of first site of disease relapse, and hormone receptor status should be considered in the choice of the best first-line treatment option for HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer patients. Implications for Practice: A paucity of data is available outlining the clinical outcomes of patients who receive trastuzumab as a part of their (neo)adjuvant treatment and then resume trastuzumab-based therapy in the metastatic setting. In the present study, despite an inferior median progression-free survival, trastuzumab-based therapy was shown to be an effective first-line treatment for patients relapsing after (neo)adjuvant trastuzumab. Previous trastuzumab exposure, the respective trastuzumab-free interval, the type of first site of disease relapse, and hormone receptor status should be considered in choosing the best first-line treatment option for HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer patients.

Objectives: Maintenance hormone therapy after first-line chemotherapy is routinely used by many clinicians in advanced breast cancer patients with potentially hormone-sensitive tumors, although there are insufficient evidences in the literature to support this practice. We investigated the effects of the third-generation aromatase inhibitor letrozole as a maintenance therapy in postmenopausal patients who had responded or had stable disease with first-line chemotherapy. Methods: Fifty-eight patients (median age 62 years, range 31–80) were recruited and received letrozole, 2.5 mg/day starting within 8 weeks since the last cycle of chemotherapy. Estrogen and/or progesterone receptor status was positive in 81% of the patients, unknown in 19%; 57% of the patients had visceral disease. First-line chemotherapy included anthracyclines and/or taxanes in 74% of cases. Results: The median time to progression (TTP) from starting letrozole was 18.5 months. A shorter TTP was found in patients with abnormal CA 15-3 levels at the start of maintenance letrozole (median TTP, 9.9 months: p = 0.01), or with levels increasing >25% from baseline during the first 6 months of letrozole therapy (median TTP, 8.2 months: p < 0.0001). Response status improved during letrozole in 15.5% of patients who had obtained less than a complete response to chemotherapy. Maintenance treatment was well tolerated and had no significant impact on quality of life scores. Conclusions: This study provides evidence in support of the common clinical practice of maintenance hormone therapy after chemotherapy in suitably selected patients with advanced breast cancer.

Background Neoadjuvant anthracycline- and taxane-based chemotherapy is frequently administered in breast cancer. Pathological complete response (pCR) rates vary according to clinical disease stage and biology of breast cancer. The critical role of angiogenesis in the progression of breast cancer, together with significantly improved efficacy when bevacizumab is combined with chemotherapy in the metastatic setting, provides a strong rationale for evaluating the integration of bevacizumab into neoadjuvant chemotherapy regimens. Methods A single-arm, multicentre, phase II, open-label study evaluated four 3-weekly cycles of FEC (5-fluorouracil 600 mg/m 2 , epirubicin 90 mg/m 2 and cyclophosphamide 600 mg/m 2 ) followed by 12 cycles of weekly paclitaxel (80 mg/m 2 ) in combination with bevacizumab 10 mg/kg every 2 weeks as neoadjuvant therapy for HER2-negative stage III locally advanced or inflammatory breast carcinoma. The primary endpoint was pCR rate. Results Planned treatment was completed in 49 of the 56 enrolled patients. In the intent-to-treat population, the pCR rate was 21% and the clinical response rate was 59%. Breast-conserving surgery was achieved in 34% of patients. In the subgroup of 15 patients with triple-negative disease, the pCR rate was 47%. Grade 3 adverse events in ≥5% of patients were neutropenia, leucopenia, asthenia, and rash. One case each of hypertensive retinopathy and post-operative wound complication, both after treatment completion, were considered probably related to bevacizumab. There were no treatment-related deaths and no cardiac function abnormalities. Conclusions This study indicates that FEC followed by weekly paclitaxel with bevacizumab is an active neoadjuvant regimen for locally advanced breast cancer, with no major safety concerns. Clinical trial registration NCT00559845.

Recent data indicates that the sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) is a possible alternative to axillary lymph node dissection (ALND) in early breast cancer patients, with minimal risk of complications. From the medical oncologist's point of view, the impact of SLNB on the management of patients should consider if SLNB is useful to choose adjuvant treatment, if it is adequate to provide local control, and what is the significance of lymph node micrometastases on treatment and staging. Lymph node involvement has always been recognised as the most important prognostic factor in early-stage breast cancer, even if many other parameters have been evaluated in recent years. However, the lack of knowledge of nodal status in patients with false-negative SLNB seems to result in an undertreatment in a very low percentage of patients. Adjuvant chemotherapy and hormonal therapy with tamoxifen are associated with an absolute reduction of the risk of recurrence and death both in node-positive and in node-negative patients, then if patients are treated with modern adjuvant systemic therapy, any effect associated with false negative SLN should be minimised. The impact of axillary treatment on survival is still controversial, but in recent times axillary lymph node positivity is considered as an indicator for high risk of systemic diffusion of the disease rather than a possible origin of systemic metastases. The significance of occult sentinel lymph node metastases detected by immunohistochemistry (IHC) or molecular biology on prognosis is still uncertain. The new version of the staging system of breast cancer has recognised the need for a standard diagnostic approach and of a nomenclature system which also takes SLNB into account.

Goldrat and colleagues [1] should be congratulated for having reported the feasibility and safety of pregnancy using assisted reproductive technologies (ART) in patients previously diagnosed and treated for breast cancer. In this multicenter retrospective study, of 198 patients with pregnancy following breast cancer diagnosis and treatment, 25 underwent ART. Compared to women in the spontaneous pregnancy group, more patients in the ART pregnancy group had grade IeII tumours, node-negative disease, and oestrogen receptorpositive disease and received adjuvant endocrine therapy. No significant difference in breast cancer outcome was observed between the two groups, with 10 (5.7%) and 2 (8%) patients who developed distant recurrences in the spontaneous pregnancy group and the ART pregnancy group, respectively. The authors concluded

1057 Background: ESO/ESMO recently developed consensus guidelines for MBC treatment, potentially applicable worldwide. Aim of the present analysis is to verify the adherence to ABC recommendations for HR+ve MBC in the context of the AMBRA study. Methods: AMBRA is a longitudinal cohort study, aiming to describe the choice of first and subsequent lines of treatment in HER2-ve MBC pts receiving at least one Chemotherapy (CHT) (SABCS 2016, P5-15-07 & P5-14-09). For the present analysis, we selected 6 statements from the ABC1 & ABC2 Conferences, comparing them with the clinical choices of 1st-line therapy in all evaluable cases. Results: So far, 791/1500 pts have been registered into the study, 673 of them (85%) with HR+ MBC. Main characteristics are: N+=422 (62.2%), adjuvant chemotherapy=288 (42.4%), median DFI=70 months. 26 pts were excluded due to change into HR-ve (26; 3.8%). Endocrine Therapy (ET) was the 1st-line of treatment in 187/647 (27.8%), CHT in 310 (47.9%) and CHT followed by ET in 135 (20.8%). Viscera was the main site of disease in 328 pts (48.7%): 56 (17%) received ET, 209 (63.7%) CHT alone, the remaining CHT followed by ET. Median DFI was similar in all the 3 groups. Selected recommendations and percentages of adherence are reported in the table below. Conclusions: The adherence to clinical recommendation about the use of ET as 1st-line treatment in HR+ pts is very low; a potential bias could be due to the selection of the study population. Visceral disease appears to be often a key factor for selecting CHT as 1st-line treatment. In pts receiving ET, the recommendation to use AIs, TAM or F is transposed in almost all the cases. [Table: see text]

1055 Background: The molecular subtypes of BC have individual patterns of behavior, prognosis and sensitivity to treatment, with subsequent implications for the choice of, or indeed role, for adjuvant (Adj) and metastatic chemotherapy (CHT). Taxanes (T) play a central role in chemotherapy for BC. However, previous studies have reported that T are relatively ineffective in patients with Luminal (HR+ve) BC compared with other subtypes. Aim of the present analysis is to describe the use of T in the clinical practice in Italy in HR+ve pts. Methods: AMBRA is a longitudinal cohort study, aiming to describe the choice of first and subsequent lines of treatment in HER2-ve MBC pts receiving at least one CHT (SABCS 2016, P5-15-07 & P5-14-09) in the years 2012-2015. For the present analysis, we focused on the use of T from the AdJ to the metastatic setting. Results: So far, 791/1500 pts have been registered into the study, 651 of them (82,3%) evaluable with HR+ MBC. Main characteristics are: Mean age 52 years; pN: UK 64 (9.8%) N+=405 (62.2%); Adj CHT=397 (61 %), mean DFI=96,99 months. T were used in 60.3% of the cases in the Adj setting, alone or in combination with other drugs, mainly anthracyclines (82.6%), with a mean DFI of 56.9 months. In the metastatic setting, across 1st to 3rd line, 460 pts (70.6%) received T, alone (49.7%) or in combination with Bevacizumab (38.2%), or other CHT drugs (11.9%). Details of the use of T in MBC are described in the table below. Conclusions: T have been used in more than 60% of cases of Luminal tumours in the Adj setting. In this population DFS is significantly shorter as compared with the non-T treated luminal population, as previously suggested by different Authors. Re-challenge with T is very frequent across different lines for MBC. Paclitaxel is the most used T, Docetaxel the less used and Nab-paclitaxel, labelled for MBC only, shows an increasing use from 1st-to 3rd line of treatment. [Table: see text]

e12043 Background: Significant and symptomatic cardiac comorbidity (CC) is a contraindication to adjuvant trastuzumab (T) in breast cancer patients (pts). However, some pts with asymptomatic, non-limiting CC and normal baseline left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) receive T in the clinical practice. We sought to describe the tolerability of T in these pts. Methods: Retrospective analysis of pts with baseline asymptomatic non-limiting CC receiving adjuvant T with chemotherapy (CT) at 6 Institutions between Jul 2006 and Jan 2016. Results: Thirty-seven patients HER2-positive, operable BC at high risk of relapse BC were studied. Median age was 64y (range 36-82, 80% post-menopausal), median baseline LVEF was 61% (range 50-85%) and median BMI 26 (18-42, obesity 22%). Thirteen patients (35%) received T with adjuvant anthracycline and taxane-based, 19 (51%) taxane-based and 3 (8%) other adjuvant CT regimens (13 pts sequential, 22 pts concomitant with CT) and 2 (5%) with endocrine therapy. Prior non-limiting CC was ischemic heart disease (35%), valvular disease (30%), atrial fibrillation (19%), conduction disorders (13%), aortic aneurism (3%), and other (19%). Nine (29%) pts experienced TRC: congestive heart failure (1 pt, 3%), LVEF reduction (6 pts, 16%) and rhythm disturbances (1 pt, 3%). TRC occurred in pts with ongoing multiple cardiovascular risk factors (i.e. obesity and hypertension). Seven pts discontinued T because of TRC (19%), 5 permanently (14%) and 2 temporarily (5%). These latter pts, were able to resume and complete T after TRC resolution. At the end of adjuvant treatment, all pts showed LVEF within normal limits, except one of those who experienced a TRC (last FU value 46 %). Conclusions: This is the first analysis of TRC in pts receiving adjuvant T in the presence prior non-limiting CC. Despite the small size, our analysis shows that T is feasible in these pts and most of the TRC events were reversible at T withdrawal. Caution is needed in pts with significant ongoing cardiovascular risk factors, but when adjuvant T is deemed beneficial on breast cancer outcomes, non-limiting CC should not preclude treatment.

1049 Background: The appropriate choice of 1st-line therapy in HR+ve/HER2-ve MBC pts is becoming more complicated since the data of front-line Fulvestrant and CDK 4/6 Inhibitors have been released. In the absence of predictive biomarkers of tumor response, one possible option is the recently proposed “composite score” (Schmid, ESMO 2016), composed by visceral tumor burden (VTB) and Disease-Free-Interval (DFI) to identify risk categories and the probability of response to ET or chemotherapy (CHT). Aim of the present analysis is to describe the choices of 1st-line treatment and the response rate, according to the mentioned score in a population of HR+/HER2-ve MBC. Methods: We used data of the HR+ve pts of the AMBRA study, a longitudinal cohort study, describing the choice of first and subsequent lines of treatment in HER2-ve MBC pts (SABCS 2016 P5-15-07 & P5-14-09). Using median DFI and VTB three categories of risk have been identified: Low (DFI > 24 months & VTB-), Intermediate (DFI £ 24 months & VTB- or DFI > 24 months & VTB+) and High (DFI £ 24 months & VTB+). This analysis describes the choices of 1st-line therapy and relative response rate according to these risk categories. Results: So far, 791/1500 pts have been registered into the AMBRA study, 673 of them (85%) with HR+ MBC and 659 (83.3%) are evaluable for this analysis. Risk categories and response to therapy are detailed in the table below. Conclusions: No conclusion can be done regarding the “High Risk” group because of the low number of pts treated with ET alone. Regarding the “Low” and “Intermediate” risk categories, we can conclude that the proposed “composite risk score” doesn’t seem to discriminate MBC patients who could be treated with ET alone or with a more aggressive treatment, at least in terms of response rate. [Table: see text]

Trastuzumab, a humanized monoclonal antibody directed against the epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2), is a milestone in the treatment of HER2-overexpressing breast cancer patients. An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for trastuzumab has been developed for routine use in the laboratory to support clinical and pharmacokinetic studies to optimize therapy. The method relies on an antigen peptide linked to a 96-well plate via the streptavidin/biotin system. The peptide sequence mimics the extracellular portion of the HER2 receptor that is recognized by trastuzumab. The calibration range of the assay is 10 to 360 ng/mL per well, corresponding to a trastuzumab serum concentration from 5 to 180 μg/mL with a lower limit of quantification of 10 μg/mL. Validation results demonstrate that trastuzumab can be accurately and precisely quantified in human serum using this assay. The procedure was also tested in sera obtained from breast cancer patients to evaluate trastuzumab serum levels, confirming the applicability of method that could be a valid assay to use in daily laboratory practice.

One of the great challenges of cancer medicine is to develop effective treatments for bone metastatic cancer. Most patients with advanced solid tumors will develop bone metastasis and will suffer from skeletal related events associated with this disease. Although some therapies are available to manage symptoms derived from bone metastases, an effective treatment has not been developed yet. The mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) pathway regulates cell growth and survival. Alterations in mTOR signaling have been associated with pathological malignancies, including bone metastatic cancer. Inhibition of mTOR signaling might therefore be a promising alternative for bone metastatic cancer management. This review summarizes the current knowledge on mTOR pathway signaling in bone tissue and provides an overview on the known effects of mTOR inhibition in bone cancer, both in in vitro and in vivo models.

Breast cancer is the most common invasive cancer in women of reproductive age. In young women, chemotherapy may induce amenorrhea: it is still uncertain how to assess menopausal status in these patients despite the importance of its definition for choosing appropriate endocrine treatment. In the development of sensitive biomarkers for fertility and ovarian reserve, anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) is considered a promising marker of ovarian reserve. The clearest data regarding a clinical use of AMH are related to the measurement of the ovarian pool in women who undergo IVF: the available data, also in breast cancer patients, seem to suggest that AMH measurement, before gonadotropin administration, can be a useful marker for the prediction of women at risk for poor-response or no response to ovarian stimulation. The utility of AMH as a potential marker of chemotherapy-induced ovarian follicular depletion and an early plasma marker of chemotherapy-induced gonadal damage has been evaluated both in young women after treatment for cancer in childhood and in young survivors of hematological malignancies and solid tumors. Several studies have demonstrated a potential utility of AMH, inhibin, or follicle-stimulating factor as biomarkers predicting infertility risk in breast cancer patients, but the studies conducted so far are not conclusive. Further studies are needed in order to define the regimen-specific action of chemotherapy on AMH levels, the percentage of post-treatment recovery of plasma levels of the hormone, and the relationship between menopausal status and AMH.

Estrone sulphate, follicle-stimulating hormone, and testosterone levels in male breast cancer patients treated with aromatase inhibitors are examined.

Objective: To identify through a substudy of a larger, multicenter study of adjuvant treatment in primary operable breast cancer patients any possible correlation between cellular proliferation rate, measured by thymidine labeling index (TLI), and perioperative chemotherapy (periCT). Methods: TLI was measured in slices of early breast carcinoma patients. The main trial was designed to randomize patients after primary surgery to receive one cycle of periCT consisting of cyclophosphamide, epidoxorubicin and 5-fluorouracil, or no periCT. Results: Of 600 patients randomized into the main study, 197 were eligible for inclusion in this substudy. Characteristics of patients were quite similar to those of the entire population entered into the main study. The TLI cutoff value in our series was 0.7% expressed as the median percentage ratio of thymidine-labeled cells undergoing DNA synthesis in the tumor cell population of specimens from the 197 patients. No differences were observed in terms of relapse-free survival (RFS) and overall survival (OS) after grouping the patients by TLI value (low and high) and by treatment. Among node-negative patients, a significant improvement in terms of OS (p = 0.02), but not RFS (p = 0.06), was seen in patients with a high-TLI value who underwent periCT versus controls. Conclusions: TLI may be a useful tool for the identification of node-negative patients with high-TLI values who may benefit from periCT.

Ionizing radiation has a long history of successful applications in Brazil. In this paper the history and current status of food irradiation research and commercialization in Brazil are presented. The way in which irradiation of different food is regulated is also discussed.

Hurvitz SA, Dirix L, Kocsis J et al. Phase II randomised study of trastuzumab emtansine versus trastuzumab plus docetaxel in patients with human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-positive metastatic breast cancer. J. Clin. Oncol. 31(9), 1157–1163 (2013). The introduction of trastuzumab in the treatment of HER-2-positive metastatic breast cancer patients favorably changed the natural history of this disease. First-line treatment with trastuzumab and taxanes demonstrated a significant improvement in overall survival and progression-free survival compared with taxane alone. Despite such a major advance, HER-2-positive metastatic breast cancer will eventually progress in most patients. Moreover chemotherapy-associated toxicities, such as myelosuppression (docetaxel) and neurotoxicity (paclitaxel), may hamper the possibility to adequately treat metastatic breast cancer and may have a negative effect on patients’ quality of life. The need for more effective and better-tolerated therapy for HER-2-positive metastatic breast cancer led to the development of new anti-HER-2 agents. Pertuzumab and trastuzumab emtansine are two of the new agents that will change the approach to the treatment of HER-2-positive metastatic breast cancer. Pertuzumab is a humanized monoclonal antibody that binds HER-2 at a different epitope of the HER-2 extracellular domain (subdomain II) than that at which trastuzumab binds. Trastuzumab emtansine is a HER-2-targeted antibody–drug conjugate, composed of the cytotoxic microtubule polymerization inhibitor DM1 that is conjugated to the monoclonal antibody trastuzumab, able to selectively deliver a cytotoxic agent to HER-2-positive tumor cells. TDM-1 is superior and less toxic than lapatinib plus capecitabine in metastatic breast cancer patients previously treated with trastuzumab and taxanes, and its role as a first-line therapy is currently under investigation.

529Background: At the 2014 ASCO meeting we presented the prognostic STAR score, designed in a dataset of 2,248 pts with low/intermediate grade Lum like BC (HER2-/estrogen receptor [ER]+/G1-2) combi...

Background International treatment guidelines recommend administration of adjuvant chemotherapy in early breast cancer based on clinical, prognostic and predictive parameters. Methods An observational study (NEMESI) was conducted in 63 Italian oncology centres in patients with early breast cancer. Age, performance status, concomitant disease, menopausal status, histology, tumor dimension (pT), axillary lymph node status (pN), grading (G), estrogen and progesterone receptor (ER and PgR), proliferative index (ki67 or MIB-1), human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) and type of adjuvant treatment were recorded. The primary objective of the study was to define parameters influencing the decision to prescribe adjuvant chemotherapy and the type of chemotherapy. Results Data for 1894 patients were available. 69.0% postmenopausal, 67.0% pT1, 22.3% pTmic/pT1a/pT1b, 61.0% pN0, 48.7% luminal A, 18.1% luminal B, 16.1% HER2 positive, 8.7% triple negative, 8.4% unknown. 57.8% received adjuvant chemotherapy: 38.1% of luminal A, 67.3% luminal B, 88.2% HER2-positive, 97.6% triple negative. Regimens administered: 9.1% CMF-like, 48.8% anthracyclines, 38.4% anthracyclines plus taxanes, 3.7% taxanes alone. Increasing pT/pN and, marginally, HER2-positive were associated with the prescription of anthracyclines plus taxanes. Suboptimal schedules (CMF-like or AC/EC or FEC-75) were prescribed in 37.3% receiving chemotherapy, even in HER2-positive and triple negative disease (36.5% and 34.0%, respectively). Conclusions This study showed an overprescription of adjuvant chemotherapy for early breast cancer, particularly referred to luminal A. pT, pN and, marginally, HER2 were the principal determinants for the choice of chemotherapy type. Suboptimal chemotherapy regimens were adopted in at least one third of HER2-positve and triple negative.

Trastuzumab is a humanized monoclonal antibody against the extracellular domain of hEGF receptor-2 (HER2). Trastuzumab in combination with chemotherapy has proven efficacy in treating both early and metastatic HER2-positive breast cancer. In the metastatic setting, the addition of trastuzumab to chemotherapy is associated with a statistically significant longer time to disease progression, higher rate of objective response and improvement in overall survival. Trastuzumab efficacy is not influenced by hormone receptor status, but differences in median overall survival exist between HER2-positive and HER2-negative states. Reassessment of the benefit of re-exposing patients with metastatic breast cancer to trastuzumab following relapse in the adjuvant setting is necessary. Ongoing research into new HER2-targeted therapies and trials involving combination anti-HER2 drug therapy without chemotherapy show promise. This review is focused on the available results obtained with the use of trastuzumab in the subset of HER2-positive breast cancer patients with metastatic disease.

Importance Whether the administration of luteinizing hormone–releasing hormone analogues (LHRHa) during chemotherapy is a reliable strategy to preserve ovarian function is controversial owing to both the lack of data on long-term ovarian function and pregnancies and the safety concerns about the potential negative interactions between endocrine therapy and chemotherapy. Objective To evaluate long-term results of LHRHa-induced ovarian suppression during breast cancer chemotherapy. Design, Setting, and Participants Parallel, randomized, open-label, phase 3 superiority trial conducted at 16 Italian sites. Between October 2003 and January 2008, 281 premenopausal women with stage I to III hormone receptor–positive or hormone receptor–negative breast cancer were enrolled. Last annual follow-up was June 3, 2014. Interventions Patients were randomized to receive adjuvant or neoadjuvant chemotherapy alone (control group) or chemotherapy plus triptorelin (LHRHa group). Main Outcomes and Measures The primary planned end point was incidence of chemotherapy-induced early menopause. Post hoc end points were long-term ovarian function (evaluated by yearly assessment of menstrual activity and defined as resumed by the occurrence of at least 1 menstrual cycle), pregnancies, and disease-free survival (DFS). Results A total of 281 women (median age, 39 [range, 24-45] years) were randomized. Median follow-up was 7.3 years (interquartile range, 6.3-8.2 years). The 5-year cumulative incidence estimate of menstrual resumption was 72.6% (95% CI, 65.7%-80.3%) among the 148 patients in the LHRHa group and 64.0% (95% CI, 56.2%-72.8%) among the 133 patients in the control group (hazard ratio [HR], 1.28 [95% CI, 0.98-1.68]; P = .07; age-adjusted HR, 1.48 [95% CI, 1.12-1.95]; P = .006). Eight pregnancies (5-year cumulative incidence estimate of pregnancy, 2.1% [95% CI, 0.7%-6.3%]) occurred in the LHRHa group and 3 (5-year cumulative incidence estimate of pregnancy, 1.6% [95% CI, 0.4%-6.2%]) in the control group (HR, 2.56 [95% CI, 0.68-9.60]; P = .14; age-adjusted HR, 2.40 [95% CI, 0.62-9.22]; P = .20). Five-year DFS was 80.5% (95% CI, 73.1%-86.1%) in the LHRHa group and 83.7% (95% CI, 76.1%-89.1%) in the control group (LHRHa vs control: HR, 1.17 [95% CI, 0.72-1.92]; P = .52). Conclusions and Relevance Among premenopausal women with either hormone receptor–positive or hormone receptor–negative breast cancer, concurrent administration of triptorelin and chemotherapy, compared with chemotherapy alone, was associated with higher long-term probability of ovarian function recovery, without a statistically significant difference in pregnancy rate. There was no statistically significant difference in DFS for women assigned to triptorelin and those assigned to chemotherapy alone, although study power was limited. Trial Registration clinicaltrials.gov Identifier:NCT00311636

Context Premenopausal patients with breast cancer are at high risk of premature ovarian failure induced by systemic treatments, but no standard strategies for preventing this adverse effect are yet available. Objective To determine the effect of the temporary ovarian suppression obtained by administering the gonadotropin-releasing hormone analogue triptorelin during chemotherapy on the incidence of early menopause in young patients with breast cancer undergoing adjuvant or neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Design, Setting, and Patients The PROMISE-GIM6 (Prevention of Menopause Induced by Chemotherapy: A Study in Early Breast Cancer Patients–Gruppo Italiano Mammella 6) study, a parallel, randomized, open-label, phase 3 superiority trial, was conducted at 16 sites in Italy and enrolled 281 patients between October 2003 and January 2008. The patients were premenopausal women with stage I through III breast cancer who were candidates for adjuvant or neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Assuming a 60% rate of early menopause in the group treated with chemotherapy alone, it was estimated that 280 patients had to be enrolled to detect a 20% absolute reduction in early menopause in the group treated with chemotherapy plus triptorelin. The intention-to-treat analysis was performed by including all randomized patients and using imputed values for missing data. Interventions Before beginning chemotherapy, patients were randomly allocated to receive chemotherapy alone or combined with triptorelin. Triptorelin was administered intramuscularly at a dose of 3.75 mg at least 1 week before the start of chemotherapy and then every 4 weeks for the duration of chemotherapy. Main Outcome Measure Incidence of early menopause (defined as no resumption of menstrual activity and postmenopausal levels of follicle-stimulating hormone and estradiol 1 year after the last cycle of chemotherapy). Results The clinical and tumor characteristics of the 133 patients randomized to chemotherapy alone and the 148 patients randomized to chemotherapy plus triptorelin were similar. Twelve months after the last cycle of chemotherapy (last follow-up, August 18, 2009), the rate of early menopause was 25.9% in the chemotherapy-alone group and 8.9% in the chemotherapy plus triptorelin group, an absolute difference of −17% (95% confidence interval, −26% to −7.9%; P Conclusion The use of triptorelin-induced temporary ovarian suppression during chemotherapy in premenopausal patients with early-stage breast cancer reduced the occurrence of chemotherapy-induced early menopause. Trial Registration clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT00311636

the loss or impairment of ovarian function is an irreversible side effect that can occur in young cancer patients undergoing anticancer treatments. Its incidence varies according to the type of chemotherapy and the patient's age.the review includes studies or data available in literature from 1987 to 2010, examining current strategies to protect ovarian function and/or fertility in patients undergoing chemotherapy, which include oocyte, embryo or ovarian tissue cryopreservation, and temporary ovarian suppression during chemotherapy obtained by the administration of gonadotropin-releasing hormone analogues (GnRHa). The reader will gain an understanding of the incidence of premature ovarian function loss associated with chemotherapy; the advantages and disadvantages of the different strategies in protecting ovarian function; and the magnitude of the effect of GnRHa strategy in preserving ovarian function during chemotherapy.the administration of GnRHa before and during chemotherapy is associated with an absolute reduction in the incidence of early menopause of nearly 20%. Such a strategy may be offered to young cancer patients who are candidates for chemotherapy. The capability of such an approach in inducing long-term preservation of ovarian function including fertility is still unknown.

The most appropriate timing of chemotherapy and hormone therapy administration is a critical issue in early breast cancer patients. The purpose of our study was to compare the efficacy of concurrent vs sequential administration of adjuvant chemotherapy and tamoxifen.Women with node-positive primary breast cancer were randomly assigned to receive tamoxifen (20 mg/d for 5 years) during (concurrent arm) or after (sequential arm) adjuvant chemotherapy. Chemotherapy consisted of alternating regimens of cyclophosphamide, epidoxorubicin, and 5-fluorouracil and cyclophosphamide, methotrexate, and 5-fluorouracil every 21 days for a total of 12 cycles. The primary endpoint was overall survival (OS), and secondary endpoints were toxic effects and disease-free survival (DFS). No provision for interim analyses was made in the original study protocol. Survival curves were estimated by the Kaplan-Meier method. Multivariable Cox regression models, adjusted for age, menopausal status, tumor stage, and lymph node and hormone receptor status, were used to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). All statistical tests were two-sided.From 1985 to 1992, 431 patients were randomly assigned and studied according to the intention-to-treat principle. After a maximum of 15.4 years of follow-up (median 12.3 years), the estimated actuarial 10-year OS was equivalent for the two study arms (concurrent arm: 111 patients, 66%, 95% CI = 59% to 72%; sequential arm: 114 patients, 65%, 95% CI = 59% to 72%, P = .86). No differences in DFS and toxic effects were evident. Four interim analyses were performed, but no alpha error adjustment was necessary because of the largely negative results of this final analysis (sequential vs concurrent arm: HR of death = 1.06, 95% CI = 0.78 to 1.44, P = .76; HR of relapse = 1.16, 95% CI = 0.88 to 1.52, P = .36).No statistically significant differences in OS, DFS, and toxic effects between concurrent and sequential adjuvant chemo- and hormone therapies were observed. Our study does not support the superiority of one schedule of chemo- and hormone-therapy administration over the other. However, because of the limited statistical power of the study, these results must be considered with caution.

on 21 early breast cancer patients. All patients gavewritten informed consent approved by the Ethic Committee.After the breast tumor was removed, a tumor sample wasstored by pathologist and sent to Agendia for MammaPrint test.Nine patients had a MammaPrint result which is not use-ful for clinical decision about adjuvant chemotherapy because3 were ductal carcinoma in situ, 4 (22%) had quality of sam-ples not sufficient to perform the MammaPrint assay and 2had both oestrogen- and progesterone-receptors negative andthen patients were candidates for chemotherapy regardlessthe MammaPrint results.In the remaining 12 cases (67%) both clinical risk (definedby clinical-pathological parameters) and MammaPrint riskwere considered for decision-making about adjuvant treat-ment. All cases were discussed in the Breast Disease Manage-ment Team with the presence of medical oncologists, sur-geons and pathologists. Characteristics of the 12 patients areshowed in Table 1.In five (42%) cases (2, 4, 5, 6, 11) clinical risk was dis-cordant with the risk estimated by MammaPrint. In thesecases decision about chemotherapy was based on clinical-pathological factors and disagreed with MammaPrint risk. Infact, in our Institute we recommend chemotherapy in endo-crine-responsive patients with node-positive (2 and 5) or T2tumor or G3 or age 35 years. Conversely, we do not recom-mend usually chemotherapy in endocrine-responsive patientswith age 70 years (4 and 6). Patient 11 had a lobular inva-sive carcinoma and, although she had a T2, we did not rec-ommend chemotherapy because lobular invasive carcinomaappeared to be less responsive to chemotherapy.

Investigation is lacking regarding the clinical impact of human leukocyte antigen (HLA) class I downregulation in breast cancer and results are inconsistent. In this study, we investigated the expression of HLA class I, the heavy chain, and beta2-microglobulin (beta2-m) by immunohistochemistry in 67 breast carcinomas (BC) and correlated results with clinical-pathologic parameters and patient outcomes. Seventy-six percent of BC were downregulated for HLA class I, whereas downregulation of heavy chain and beta2-m was observed in 57 and 46% of BC, respectively. A significant association existed between the absence of tumor necrosis and downregulation of class I and beta2-m and between the absence of lymphovascular invasion and patient's age and downregulated class I and heavy chain, respectively. Among the lymph node-positive BC patients, a significantly improved overall survival was observed in those showing beta2-m downregulation compared with patients with normal beta2-m. This result may correlate with the role of beta2-m in regulating cancer cell growth.

Purpose To explore potential differences in efficacy, treatment completion, and adverse events (AEs) in elderly women receiving adjuvant tamoxifen or letrozole for five years in the Breast International Group (BIG) 1-98 trial. Methods This report includes the 4,922 patients allocated to 5 years of letrozole or tamoxifen in the BIG 1-98 trial. The median follow-up was 40.4 months. Subpopulation Treatment Effect Pattern Plot (STEPP) analysis was used to examine the patterns of differences in disease-free survival and incidences of AEs according to age. In addition, three categoric age groups were defined: “younger postmenopausal” patients were younger than 65 years (n = 3,127), “older” patients were 65 to 74 years old (n = 1,500), and “elderly” patients were 75 years of age or older (n = 295). Results Efficacy results for subpopulations defined by age were similar to the overall trial results: Letrozole significantly improved disease-free survival (DFS), the primary end point, compared with tamoxifen. Elderly patients were less likely to complete trial treatment, but at rates that were similar in the two treatment groups. The incidence of bone fractures, observed more often in the letrozole group, did not differ by age. In elderly patients, letrozole had a significantly higher incidence of any grade 3 to 5 protocol-specified non-fracture AE compared with tamoxifen (P = .002), but differences were not significant for thromboembolic or cardiac AEs. Conclusion Adjuvant treatment with letrozole had superior efficacy (DFS) compared with tamoxifen in all age groups. On the basis of a small number of patients older than 75 years (6%), age per se should not unduly affect the choice of adjuvant endocrine therapy.

Tetraprimer amplification refractory mutation system PCR (T-ARMS-PCR) is a simple and inexpensive genotyping method for differentiating both alleles of a polymorphism/mutation (both single-nucleotide polymorphisms and small insertions/deletions) with a single-tube PCR (1). In T-ARMS-PCR, a pair of common (outer) primers produces a non–allele-specific control amplicon and in combination with 2 allele-specific (inner) primers (designed to anneal in the opposite orientation) produces 2 allele-specific amplicons. These allele-specific amplicons have different sizes because the polymorphism/mutation is asymmetrically located with respect to the common primers. Thus, the amplicons can be separated by standard gel electrophoresis. T-ARMS-PCR has also been designed in a multiplex fashion to genotype more than one polymorphism/mutation by a single-tube PCR (2). We describe a modified multiplex T-ARMS-PCR, the hexaprimer ARMS-PCR (H-ARMS-PCR), which is for when 2 polymorphisms are close in the sequence. H-ARMS-PCR uses only 6 primers and provides direct information about haplotype structure. The CTLA4 gene (cytotoxic T-lymphocyte–associated protein 4; also known as CD152) is a negative regulator of T-cell function (3). The CTLA4 polymorphisms −318 C>T (rs5742909) and +49 A>G (rs231775) are associated with susceptibility to autoimmune diseases and cancer (3)(4). To genotype these 2 polymorphisms, which are only 365 bp apart in the 5′ region of the CTLA4 gene, we designed an H-ARMS-PCR that combines a single pair of common primers and 2 pairs of allele-specific primers in the same tube (Fig. 1A⇓ ). Figure 1. Polymorphism genotyping by H-ARMS-PCR. (A), H-ARMS-PCR for CTLA4 −318 C>T (rs5742909) and …