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Findings from randomized clinical trials have shown that survival in patients with sentinel lymph node (SLN)-negative breast cancer is noninferior with SLN biopsy (SLNB) alone versus further axillary lymph node dissection (ALND). However, the long-term outcome of these two surgical approaches in pN0 breast cancer patients in real-world setting remains uncertain.We included patients diagnosed with pathologically staged T1-2N0M0 breast cancer between 2000 and 2015 in surveillance, epidemiology, and end results 18-registry database. Patients were considered to have undergone SLNB alone if they had ≤ 5 examined lymph nodes (ELNs), and ALND if they had ≥ 10 ELNs. The outcomes included overall survival (OS) and breast cancer-specific survival. Propensity score analyses by weighting and matching and multivariable Cox regression analysis were performed to minimize treatment selection bias.We included 309,430 patients (253,501 SLNB and 55,929 ALND). In the weighted cohort, ALND was associated with significantly lower OS (hazard ratio [HR] 1.13; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.10-1.16) and BCSS (HR 1.16; 95% CI 1.10-1.22) compared with SLNB alone. Both the propensity score-matching model and multivariable Cox model demonstrated a survival benefit for SLNB when compared with ALND. Subgroup analyses for key variables did not change these findings.We found statistically significant differences in OS and BCSS between SLNB and ALND, though the magnitude of these differences was small. Our findings further support that SLNB alone should be the standard of care for patients who do not have metastatic lymph nodes identified during breast cancer surgery.

Background Previous studies have shown that high level of TILs in invasive lobular carcinoma (ILC) is associated with poor prognosis, contrary to that in TNBC and HER2-positive breast cancer. We aimed to systematically explore the expression of various tumor-infiltrating immune cell markers and immune checkpoints in ILC and their relationship with prognosis. Methods The expression of immune cell markers CD4, CD8, CD20, CD56, CD68, FOXP3 and immune checkpoints PD-1, PD-L1 and CTLA-4 in the microenvironment were detected by immunohistochemistry and their densities were quantified by computational pathology analysis. Then, the LASSO cox regression model was used to construct an immune score (IS) and further evaluate its prognostic value. We further explored the prognostic value of CD68 and FOXP3 with the transcriptome data of ILC patients in the METABRIC database. Results In our ILC cohort, the low density of CD4, CD8, CD20, CD56, CD68, FOXP3, PD-1 and PD-L1 had significantly longer disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS), however, the low density of CTLA-4 was associated with shorter DFS and OS. Based on this, each patient was given a binary score (0 for low, 1 for high) for each immune cell type (CD68 and FOXP3). Patients with low-IS had significantly prolonged DFS (HR 0.19, 95%CI 0.06-0.64, p < 0.0001) and OS (HR 0.14, 95%CI 0.03-0.56, p< 0.0001). Multivariate analysis revealed that IS was an independent prognostic indicator for DFS and OS. Further analysis showed that IS may increase the prognostic value of TNM stage. We further explored the prognostic role of CD68 and FOXP3 in the transcriptional level and the corresponding ISm in the METABRIC dataset, and found that low proportion of CD68 and FOXP3 and their ISm were associated with longer OS, and ISm was also an independent prognostic factor for OS. Furthermore, we revealed the possible mechanisms that the level of tumor-infiltrating immune cells in ILC influence prognosis. Conclusions We systemically evaluated the densities of six immune cells and three immune checkpoints and further constructed an IS model, which is a promising biomarker to distinguish the prognosis in ILC patients.

Lessons Learned Fulvestrant 500 mg maintenance therapy showed a clinical benefit rate of 76% and median progression-free survival of 16.1 months in patients who achieved objective responses or disease control after first-line chemotherapy. Adverse events with fulvestrant maintenance therapy were consistent with the known safety profile of the drug. Background Evidence for maintenance hormonal therapy after chemotherapy for estrogen receptor (ER)–positive/human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)–negative advanced breast cancer is scarce. This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of fulvestrant 500 mg maintenance therapy in patients after first-line chemotherapy. Methods We enrolled postmenopausal women with ER-positive/HER2-negative advanced breast cancer who attained tumor responses or disease control with four to eight cycles of chemotherapy as first-line treatment. Fulvestrant 500 mg was injected on days 1, 15, and 29 and every 28 (±3) days thereafter. The primary endpoint was the clinical benefit rate (CBR); the secondary endpoints included the objective response rate (ORR), progression-free survival (PFS), and safety. Results We included 58 patients; the median follow-up duration was 32.6 months. The CBR since commencing fulvestrant maintenance therapy was 76% (95% confidence interval [CI], 63%–86%), and ORR was 14% (95% CI, 6%–25%); eight patients achieved partial response. The median PFS for fulvestrant maintenance therapy was 16.1 months (95% CI, 10.3–21.0 months). Thirty-nine patients (67%) reported at least one adverse event, of which most were grade 1/2, whereas three patients (5%) reported grade 3 adverse events. Conclusion Fulvestrant 500 mg is a feasible and promising hormonal maintenance strategy in patients with ER-positive/HER2-negative advanced breast cancer who have no disease progression after first-line chemotherapy.

Background: The Advanced Breast Cancer Alliance conducted a nationwide investigation to understand the current situation of the diagnosis and treatment of human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-positive metastatic breast cancer (MBC) patients. Methods: In 2019, electronic questionnaires including basic information about respondents, characteristics of patients, and the present status of diagnosis and treatment were sent to 495 doctors from 203 medical centers covering 28 provinces. Results: The factors that influenced treatment plans included the disease process, the performance status, and the economic status of patients. Regimens and response to neoadjuvant/adjuvant chemotherapy were important factors in the decision of the first-line treatment. Overall, 54% of doctors retained trastuzumab and replaced chemotherapy drugs in second-line treatment regimens for patients with progression-free survival (PFS) ≥ 6 months in the first-line setting, while 52% of participants chose pyrotinib plus capecitabine for patients with PFS < 6 months. Economic factors played an important role in doctors’ decision-making and the varying treatment options for respondents in first-tier, second-tier, and other cities. Conclusions: This large-scale survey regarding the diagnosis and treatment of HER2-positive MBC patients revealed that clinical decisions made by Chinese doctors followed the guidelines, but their choices were constrained by economic factors.

The optimal therapeutic options, adding locoregional therapy (LRT) to systemic therapy (ST) or not, for patients with oligometastatic breast cancer (OMBC) have not been fully elucidated. Hence, we designed a retrospective observational study which enrolled patients with measurable extracranial OMBC having less than 5 metastatic lesions not necessarily in the same organ. We retrospectively reviewed a total of 199 patients diagnosed with extracranial OMBC, including 28 receiving ST followed by LRT (ST to LRT group), 44 receiving LRT followed by ST (LRT to ST group), and 127 receiving ST alone (ST alone group). After a median follow-up of 28.7 months, patients receiving both ST and LRT had a significantly better prognosis than those receiving ST alone: the median progression-free survival (PFS) was 16.3, 14.0, and 9.3 months ( P < 0.001 ) and the median overall survival (OS) was 39.8, 70.5, and 26.7 months ( P < 0.001 ) in the ST to LRT, LRT to ST, and ST alone groups, respectively. Sequence of ST and LRT had no significant impact on survival among patients receiving both. Further exploratory analysis identified ST plus LRT as an independent predictor for longer PFS. In conclusion, we demonstrated that adding LRT to ST was associated with survival benefits for patients with OMBC, and further prospective studies were warranted.

Background The role of local treatment for liver oligometastases in breast cancer patients has been controversial. The aim of the study was to evaluate the prognostic factors for overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) after hepatic local treatment and to explore appropriate therapy strategy in breast cancer patients with liver oligometastases. Methods A cohort of 91 patients with oligometastatic liver lesions identified from around 34,000 breast cancer patients between 2002 and 2018 were retrospectively reviewed. We collected and analyzed their clinicopathologic and outcome data. Results With a median follow up of 20.6 months [standard deviations (SD): 35.4], median OS and median PFS were 75.1 months [95% confidence interval (CI): 14.3–135.9 months] and 7.4 months (95% CI: 4.4–10.4 months), respectively. N3 stage, triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) subtype, progressive disease (PD) after preoperative systemic therapy and older age of operation were associated with worse OS and PFS while postoperative systemic therapy alone, preoperative [partial response (PR)/stable disease (SD)] combined with postoperative systemic therapy indicated improved OS and PFS by univariate analysis. On multivariate analysis, N3 stage [hazard ratios (HR) 23.567; 95% CI: 1.751–317.277; P=0.017] and TNBC subtype (HR 10.758; 95% CI: 1.120–103.301; P=0.040) were related to worse OS. Likewise, N3 stage (HR 3.324; 95% CI 1.604–6.890; P=0.001) and TNBC subtype (HR 3.134; 95% CI: 1.015–9.674; P=0.047) remained associated with worse PFS. The postoperative mortality and morbidity were 0% and 1.099%, respectively. Conclusions In well-selected patients, local treatment of breast cancer liver oligometastases is safe and achieves relatively long OS, except patients with advanced N stage or aggressive subtype. Postoperative systemic treatment and effective preoperative systemic therapy combined with postoperative systemic therapy are the recommended treatment strategies.

Pulmonary lymphoepithelioma-like carcinoma (LELC) is a rare and distinct subtype of primary lung cancer characterized by Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection. Herein, we reported the mutational landscape of pulmonary LELC using whole-exome sequencing, targeted deep sequencing and single-nucleotide polymorphism arrays. We identify a low degree of somatic mutation but widespread existence of copy number variations. We reveal predominant signature 2 mutations and frequent loss of type I interferon genes that are involved in the host-virus counteraction. Integrated analysis shows enrichment of genetic lesions affecting several critical pathways, including NF-κB, JAK/STAT, and cell cycle. Notably, multi-dimensional comparison unveils that pulmonary LELC resemble NPC but are clearly different from other lung cancers, natural killer/T-cell lymphoma or EBV-related gastric cancer in terms of genetic features. In all, our study illustrates a distinct genomic landscape of pulmonary LELC and provides a road map to facilitate genome-guided personalized treatment., The rare lung cancer subtype pulmonary lymphoepithelioma-like carcinoma is linked to Epstein-Barr virus infection. Here, the authors provide a mutational landscape for this cancer, showing a low burden of somatic mutations and high prevalence of copy number variations.

Background: To assess the prognosis of skin involvement in female breast cancer patients with chest wall recurrence (CWR).Methods: We retrospectively analyzed the clinical-pathological data of breast cancer patients with CWR who were diagnosed pathologically between January 2000 and April 2020. Progression free survival (PFS) was defined as time from diagnosis of CWR to the first disease progression. Persistent chest wall progression was three consecutive chest wall progression without distant organ involvement.Results: A total of 476 patients with CWR were included in this study. Among them, skin involvement or not was queried and confirmed in 345 patients. Skin involvement was significantly correlated to tumor size (P=0.003) and initial nodal status (PPPP=0.034). Patients with skin involvement were more likely to experience persistent chest wall progression (P=0.040). After eliminating the potential deviation caused by insufficient follow-up time, persistent chest wall progression was more likely to be associated with positive lymph nodal status (P=0.046), negative PR (P=0.001) and positive HER2 (P=0.046) of the primary site, negative ER (P=0.027) and PR (P=0.013) of chest wall lesion and skin involvement (P=0.020).Conclusion: Skin involvement predicted poor local disease control in female breast cancer patients with CWR and it was more likely to be related to persistent chest wall progression. We improved the stratification of prognosis and provided new insights for biological behaviors of the disease and further individualized treatment in breast cancer patients with CWR.

Background: Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) represents about 19% of all breast cancer cases in the Chinese population, and is characterized by early relapse and a complex molecular heterogeneity. Lack of targeted therapy contributes to the poorer outcomes compared with other breast cancer subtypes. Comprehensive genomic profiling helps to explore the clinically relevant genomic alterations (CRGAs) and potential therapeutic targets in very-early-relapsed TNBC patients, which are considered tumor recurrences within 24 months.Methods: Formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tumor tissue specimens from 23 patients with very-early-relapsed TNBC and 13 patients with disease-free survival (DFS) more than 36 months were tested by FoundationOne CDx (F1CDx), a next-generation-sequencing-based diagnostic device for detection of substitutions, insertion and deletion alterations (indels), and copy number alterations (CNAs) in 324 genes and select gene rearrangements, along with genomic signatures including microsatellite instability (MSI) and tumor mutational burden (TMB).Results: In total, 137 CRGAs were detected in the 23 very-early-relapsed TNBC patients, averaging 6 alterations per sample. The mean TMB was 4 Muts/Mb, which was higher than that in non-recurrence patients, and is statistically significant. The top-ranked altered genes were TP53 (83%), PTEN (35%), RB1 (30%), PIK3CA (26%), and BRCA1 (22%). RB1 mutation carriers had shorter DFS. Notably, 100% of these patients had at least 1 CRGA, and 87% of patients had at least 1 actionable alteration. In pathway analysis, patients who carried a mutation in the cell cycle pathway were more likely to experience very early recurrence. Strikingly, we detected 1 patient with ERBB2 amplification and 1 patient with ERBB2 exon20 insertion, both of which were missed by immunohistochemistry (IHC). We also detected novel alterations of ROS1-EPHA7 fusion for the first time, which has not been reported in breast cancer before. Conclusions: The comprehensive genomic profiling can identify novel treatment targets and address the limited options in TNBC patients. Therefore, incorporating F1CDx into TNBC may shed light on novel therapeutic opportunities for these very-early-relapsed TNBC patients.

Purpose: We aimed to identify the relationship between the genomic characteristics and clinicopathological features of oligo-metastatic breast cancer.Methods: Oligo-metastatic breast cancer diagnosed by pathology from January 2001 and August 2019 were identified and we matched the poly-metastatic patients based on the clinicopathological features of the oligo-metastatic patients included. The database of all genomic alterations was shown according to the FoundationOne CDx reports. Clinicopathological characteristics were collected and the results of next-generation sequencing were analyzed.Results: A total of 26 breast cancer patients were enrolled in our study, including 14 patients with oligo-metastatic disease and 12 patients with poly-metastatic disease. There was no significant difference in number of gene alteration, tumor mutational burden, variants of unknown significance (VUS), and actional mutation in oligo- and poly-metastasis. PIK3CA, TP53 and ERBB2 were the most common shared alterations identified in patients included. Based on the median time of oligo-progression disease (oligo-PD), we divided the patients with oligo-metastasis into longer oligo-PD group (oligo-PD > 31.04 months) and shorter oligo-PD group (oligo-PD ≤ 31.04 months). The analysis of PIK3CA mutation sites showed that H1047R was associated with a good prognosis in patients with metastatic breast cancer. HER2 positive patients with oligo-metastasis was more likely to have a good prognosis. In addition, VUS might also be a potential prognostic biomarker in metastatic breast cancer. Conclusion: Through the genetic analysis of oligo-metastasis, we found PIK3CA H1047R, HER2 and VUS might predict the different clinical outcomes of breast cancer patients with oligo-metastasis for the individualized treatment.

Background: Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) represents the most aggressive breast cancer subtype, which recently attracts great interest for immune therapeutic development. In this context, in-depth understanding of TNBC immune landscape is highly demanded.Results: Here we report full-length single-cell RNA sequencing results of 9683 tumor-infiltrated immune cells isolated from 14 treatment naïve TNBC tumors, where 22 immune cell subsets, including T cells, macrophages, B cells, and DCs have been characterized. We identify a new T cell subset, CD8+CXCL8+ T cell, which associates with poor survival, and a subset of “pre-exhaustion” T cell cluster, which is predictive of favorable prognosis. A novel immune cell subset comprised of TCR+ macrophages, is found to be widely distributed in TNBC tumors. Further analyses reveal an up-regulation of molecules associated with TCR signaling and cytotoxicity in these immune cells.Conclusions: Altogether, our study provides a valuable resource to understand the immune ecosystem of TNBC. The novel immune cell subsets reported herein might be functionally important in cancer immunity. These data will be helpful for the immunotherapeutic strategy design of this disease.

Background Tamoxifen resistance in breast cancer is an unsolved problem in clinical practice. The aim of this study was to determine the potential mechanisms of tamoxifen resistance through bioinformatics analysis. Methods Gene expression profiles of tamoxifen-resistant MCF-7/TR and MCF-7 cells were acquired from the Gene Expression Omnibus dataset GSE26459, and differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were detected with R software. We conducted Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway enrichment analyses using Database for Annotation, Visualization and Integrated Discovery. A protein–protein interaction (PPI) network was generated, and we analyzed hub genes in the network with the Search Tool for the Retrieval of Interacting Genes database. Finally, we used siRNAs to silence the target genes and conducted the MTS assay. Results We identified 865 DEGs, 399 of which were upregulated. GO analysis indicated that most genes are related to telomere organization, extracellular exosomes, and binding-related items for protein heterodimerization. PPI network construction revealed that the top 10 hub genes—ACLY, HSPD1, PFAS, GART, TXN, HSPH1, HSPE1, IRAS, TRAP1, and ATIC—might be associated with tamoxifen resistance. Consistently, RT-qPCR analysis indicated that the expression of these 10 genes was increased in MCF-7/TR cells comparing with MCF-7 cells. Four hub genes (TXN, HSPD1, HSPH1 and ATIC) were related to overall survival in patients who accepted tamoxifen. In addition, knockdown of HSPH1 by siRNA may lead to reduced growth of MCF-7/TR cell with a trend close to significance (P = 0.07), indicating that upregulation of HSPH1 may play a role in tamoxifen resistance. Conclusion This study revealed a number of critical hub genes that might serve as therapeutic targets in breast cancer resistant to tamoxifen and provided potential directions for uncovering the mechanisms of tamoxifen resistance.

Background Osimertinib is a potent third-generation EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) with robust activity in advanced EGFR-mutant non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), including those with T790M resistance mutation. However, a broad interpatient variability was observed. This study aimed to evaluate whether EGFR-mutant genotypes affect the clinical outcomes and resistance mechanisms in T790M-positive NSCLC patients receiving osimertinib therapy. Methods All NSCLC patients treated with osimertinib in our institute were screened. We included those with known EGFR-mutant genotypes and T790M positivity. Clinical outcomes including objective response rate (ORR), clinical benefit rate (CBR), progression-free survival (PFS), and overall survival (OS), were evaluated and compared between different EGFR genotypes. Patients with next-generation sequencing testing or tumor rebiopsy after osimertinib treatment were analyzed for resistance mechanisms. Results ORR, CBR, PFS, and OS were all non-significantly different among patients harboring EGFR exon 19 deletion (19Del, n=136), L858R (n=93), and uncommon mutations (n=6). However, a subset of tumors with deletion starting at E746 (ΔE746, n=98), but not non-ΔE746 tumors (n=38), had better clinical outcomes than L858R tumors (n=93). Frequencies of T790M loss and C797S acquisition after osimertinib treatment were similar between 19Del (n=56) and L858R tumors (n=33). However, compared with L858R tumors (n=33), those with 19Del ΔE746 subtype (n=40) had a higher whereas non-ΔE746 subtype (n=16) had a similar frequency of acquired C797S mutation. Combined analysis of our cohort and public cohort confirmed these findings. Conclusions Our findings indicate that the EGFR 19Del subtypes affect the clinical outcomes and resistance mechanisms to osimertinib in T790M-positive patients. Identifying patients with relatively worse treatment outcomes may be informative for establishing new therapies for these patients.

Background The clinical implication of plasma ESR1 mutations in the estrogen receptor (ER)-positive metastatic breast cancer (MBC) patients who had progressed after prior aromatase inhibitor (AI)-based therapy remains controversial. We conducted the first meta-analysis to investigate the prognostic significance and predictive role of plasma ESR1 mutations in MBC patients with prior exposure to AI therapy. Materials and methods We searched PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Library databases for eligible studies. Meta-analysis was conducted to calculate combined hazard ratios (HRs) with 95% CIs for progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS). Subgroup and sensitivity analyses were also performed. Results This study enrolled a total of 1,530 patients with ER-positive MBC cases from six articles, including 429 ESR1 mutation carriers (28.04%). Meta-analysis demonstrated that plasma ESR1 mutation carriers had significantly worse PFS (HR: 1.40, 95% CI: 1.17-1.66; P

This abstract was not presented at the symposium.

Background Real‐world data of the CM regimen [cyclophosphamide (CTX) plus methotrexate (MTX)] in metronomic pattern for advanced breast cancer is limited to small‐sample or retrospective studies. This study was aimed to determine the effectiveness and safety of CM regimen in treating advanced breast cancer and to identify which patients are most likely to benefit from metronomic CM regimen. Methods Patients with advanced breast cancer who received the metronomic CM regimen at least once between January 2009 and February 2019 in Sun Yat‐sen University Cancer Center were included. Clinicopathological characteristics were collected. Overall survival (OS) and progression‐free survival (PFS) were assessed using Kaplan‐Meier estimates. Characteristics between patients with PFS

Lessons Learned Administration of lapatinib with food significantly increased its plasma concentration in Chinese patients with metastatic breast cancer. There were no serious adverse events during the study and no significant differences in lapatinib-related adverse events between the fasted and fed states. Background Lapatinib, a small molecular reversible dual tyrosine kinase inhibitor of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and human epidermal growth receptor 2 (HER2), was approved for use in combination with capecitabine to treat metastatic HER2-positive breast cancer. Administration of lapatinib in the fasted state was recommended; however, our preliminary phase II trial data showed that administration of lapatinib with food increased its concentration. Methods This study was a single-center, open-label, and prospective self-controlled clinical study. Ten Chinese patients with metastatic breast cancer were enrolled from June 2017 to April 2018. They were required to receive lapatinib plus physician's choice of chemotherapy. Patients were required to take lapatinib orally on an empty stomach continually for 10 days, and then take lapatinib with food continually for the next 10 days. Plasma concentration was measured by liquid chromatography on the 9th and 10th day of each state. Results Area under the concentration-time curve (AUC) of the fasted state and the fed state was 21.23 ± 8.91 mg*h/L (coefficient of variation (CV)% 42%) and 60.60 ± 16.64 mg*h/L (CV% 27%), respectively. The mean plasma concentration in the fasted state was 0.88 ± 0.39 mg/L (CV% 45%), and that in the fed state was 2.53 ± 0.77 mg/L (CV% 30%). Compared with taking lapatinib on an empty stomach, receiving lapatinib with food significantly increased the plasma concentration of lapatinib (Wilcoxon match-paired test, p = .005). In addition, there were no serious adverse events during the study or significant difference in lapatinib-related adverse events between the two states. Conclusion Our study shows that receiving lapatinib with food can increase its plasma concentration with no significantly increased drug-related toxicity. We suggest that a larger-sample-size clinical trial is needed to fully understand the effect of administration of lapatinib with food.

Endocrine therapy is associated with improved disease-free survival (DFS) in hormone receptor-positive breast cancer, but it is also associated with many adverse events. The aim of this study was to clarify the association between endocrine treatment-related symptoms and treatment efficacy in patients receiving adjuvant endocrine therapy. EMBASE, Web of Science, PubMed, and CENTRAL databases were searched for studies that compared treatment efficacy between patients in whom adverse events did and did not occur during hormone therapy. Hazard ratios (HRs) and associated 95 % confidence intervals (CIs) for DFS and overall survival were estimated and pooled using random-effects models. Of 4665 citations identified, ten studies incorporating 32,192 patients were included in the meta-analysis. The presence of endocrine treatment-related symptoms was associated with improved DFS (HR 0.76; 95 % CI 0.68–0.85). Similar results were observed in patients with vasomotor symptoms (HR 0.76; 95 % CI 0.66–0.87) or musculoskeletal symptoms (HR 0.75; 95 % CI 0.60–0.94), in patients taking an aromatase inhibitor (HR 0.69; 95 % CI 0.57–0.85) or tamoxifen (HR 0.74; 95 % CI 0.60–0.93), and in patients with symptoms at 3-month (HR 0.74; 95 % CI 0.66–0.83), 6-month (HR 0.80; 95 % CI 0.66–0.96), or 12-month follow-up visits (HR 0.75; 95 % CI 0.68–0.83). However, no significant difference in overall survival was observed between patients with or without endocrine treatment-related symptoms (HR 0.82; 95 % CI 0.60–1.11). Sensitivity analysis excluding studies with heterogeneous factors yielded consistent results. No evidence of publication bias was observed. In our meta-analysis, endocrine treatment-related symptoms were shown to correlate with superior DFS and may therefore be useful in predicting treatment efficacy in patients with breast cancer receiving hormone therapy.

Purpose: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) induced by selective estrogen receptor modulators (SERMs) treatment may be related to treatment efficacy for the antagonism of circulating estrogens. We conducted a retrospective study to investigate the relationship between survival outcomes and NAFLD in breast cancer patients treated with tamoxifen or toremifene. Patients and methods: 785 eligible patients received tamoxifen or toremifene in Sun Yat-sen university cancer center from January 2005 to December 2009 were included in our study. All patients have at less one abdominal ultrasonography measurement at baseline and every year's follow-up. Patients who diagnosed NAFLD by ultrasonography during three-year's follow-up were classified into NAFLD cohort, others were classified into no-NAFLD cohort. Univariate and multivariate Cox regression was utilized to analyse the relationship between NAFLD and disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS). Results:158 patients had reported NAFLD in the first 3 years' follow-up. Patients who developed NAFLD had better DFS and OS than those not developing NAFLD. The 5-years DFS was 91.56% and 85.01% at NAFLD and no-NAFLD cohort (univariate hazard ratio [HR]: 0.59 [95%CI 0.37-0.96], P=0.034), respectively. The 5-years OS was 96.64% and 93.31% at NAFLD and no-NAFLD cohort (univariate HR: 0.39 [95%CI 0.16-0.99], P=0.047), respectively. Multivariate analysis revealed that NAFLD is an independent prognostic factor on DFS in breast cancer patients with SERMs treated. Women treated with SERMs experienced NAFLD in the first three-year's follow-up had a reduced risk of DFS of 42% (multivariate HR: 0.58; [95%CI 0.36-0.95], P=0.032) compared with patients without NAFLD. Conclusion: NAFLD induced by SERMs seems to be associated with better survival outcomes and may therefore be helpful in predicting treatment responses in breast cancer patients treated with SERMs. Citation Format: Wang S, Zheng Q, Nie M, Xu F, Xia W, Yuan Z, Peng R, An X, Qin T, Qin G. Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease induced by selective estrogen receptor modulators is a protective factor for breast cancer survival. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Thirty-Eighth Annual CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium: 2015 Dec 8-12; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2016;76(4 Suppl):Abstract nr P3-07-21.

e12511 Background: The role of secondary prophylaxis with pegfilgrastim (brand name: Jinyouli) in Chinese breast cancer patients has not been fully evaluated. We assessed the efficacy and safety of pegfilgrastim in secondary prophylaxis of chemotherapy-induced neutropenia in breast cancer patients. Methods: In the open-label, single-arm, multicenter trail, 319 patients were enrolled. Breast cancer patients who developed grades 3/4 neutropenia in the previous chemotherapy cycle were given a fixed dose of subcutaneous pegfilgrastim, 24-48 hours after receiving the same chemotherapy regimen in the subsequent cycle. A dose of 6mg/cycle was given to patients weighed ≥45kg, and a dose of 3mg/cycle was given to patients weighed

Table S1. Clinical characteristics of the enrolled 32 NSCLC patients. Table S2. List of target regions of the pan-cancer 1021-gene panel. (DOCX 43 kb)

Figure S4. The comparison of commonly mutated genes in non-small cell lung cancer among three different cohorts. (PDF 59 kb)

Figure S6. Driver dominance score. Driver dominance score measures driver self-sufficiency for each driver gene calculated across 32 patients. It is plotted against the fraction of patients carrying the mutated driver. (PDF 179 kb)

Supplementary Methods. (DOCX 24 kb)

Figure S1. The correlations of mutation numbers between panel sequencing and WES in three cohorts. (A) TCGA-LUAD, (B) TCGA-LUSC, (C) Geneplus. Abbreviations: TCGA The Cancer Genome Atlas, LUAD lung adenocarcinoma, LUSC lung squamous cell carcinoma, WES wholeexome sequencing. (PDF 124 kb)

Figure S3. The landscape of genomic alterations in enrolled non-small cell lung cancer patients. Integrated genomic data for 181 regions from 32 NSCLC patients. Overall number of mutations, as well as pathological type and typical mutant driver for each sample, were shown at the top. The group at the top and the patient No. at the bottom indicate contiguous regions from each patient. The percentage of NSCLC regions with an alteration was shown on the left in the order of the mutated genes as listed to the right of the panel. (PDF 276 kb)

Figure S2. The consistency of mutation numbers, ITH and phylogenetic trees between panel sequencing and WES in 4 randomly selected patients. (A) mutation numbers, (B) ITH, (C) phylogenetic trees. Abbreviations: ITH intratumor heterogeneity, WES wholeexome sequencing. (PDF 259 kb)

Understanding of intratumor heterogeneity (ITH) among different non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) subtypes is necessary. Whether circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) profile could represent these ITH is still an open question. We performed 181 multi-region tumor tissues sequencing and matched ctDNA sequencing from 32 operative NSCLC to compare ITH among different NSCLC subtypes, including EGFR-mutant lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD), KRAS-mutant LUAD, EGFR&KRAS-wild-type LUAD, and lung squamous cell carcinoma (LUSC), and examine potential value of ctDNA for ITH analysis. ITH is evaluated by ITH index (ITHi). If the somatic genetic alteration is shared by all the tissue regions, it is defined as trunk mutation. Otherwise, it is called branch mutation. The ITHi will be higher, if the tumor has less trunk mutations. We found EGFR-mutant LUAD showed significantly higher ITHi than KRAS-mutant LUAD/wild-type LUAD (P = 0.03) and numerically higher ITH than LUSC. For trunk mutations, driver mutations were identified at a higher proportion than passenger mutations (60% vs. 40%, P = 0.0023) in overall, especially in EGFR-mutant LUAD (86% vs. 14%, P = 0.0004), while it was opposite in KRAS-mutant LUAD (40% vs. 60%, P = 0.18). For branch mutations, the proportions of driver mutations and passenger mutations were similar for each NSCLC subtype. ctDNA analysis showed unsatisfactory detections of tumor-derived trunk and branch mutations (43% vs. 23%, P = 4.53e-6) among all NSCLC subtypes. In summary, EGFR-mutant LUAD has the highest ITH than other NSCLC subtypes, offering further understanding of tumorigenesis mechanisms among different NSCLC subtypes. Besides, ctDNA maybe not an appropriate method to reflect ITH. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s12943-019-0939-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.