RESUMO
Background: The global health burden of breast cancer is increasing with 5-year survival rates being much shorter in low-income and middle-income countries. Sociodemographic and clinical disparities in early cancer detection affect long-term outcome. Methods: The authors compared social, demographic, and pathological characteristics associated with metastatic and late stages of breast cancer diagnosis using data collected from a special registry developed by Perhimpunan Bedah Onkologi Indonesia (PERABOI) in 2015. Results: Of 4959 patients recruited in this study, 995 women (20.1%) were diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer. Lower education status and living in rural areas were significantly associated with Stage IV at diagnosis [odds ratio (OR)=1.256, 95% CI=1.093-1.445, P=0.001; and OR=1.197, 95% CI=1.042-1.377, P=0.012; respectively). Main complaints other than lump (ulceration, breast pain, and discharge) and occupation as a housewife were also associated with the presentation of metastatic diseases (OR=2.598, 95% CI=2.538-3.448, P<0.001 and OR=1.264, 95% CI=1.056-1.567, P=0.030, respectively). Having lower education and living outside Java and Bali islands were associated with the diagnosis of late-stage breast cancers (OR=1.908, 95% CI=1.629-2.232, P<0.001 and OR=3.039, 95% CI=2.238-4.126, P<0.001; respectively). A higher proportion of breast cancer patients were relatively younger with bigger tumour size, positive axillary nodal involvement, and more frequent Human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 overexpression. Conclusion: The authors identified sociodemographic disparities in the metastatic and late-stage diagnosis of breast cancers among Indonesian women. The subsequent action is required to reduce disparities faced by women with lower social and educational levels for early diagnosis and better healthcare access.
RESUMO
Breast cancer is the most common cancer with an increasing incidence in Asia. About 20% of all breast cancers are triple-negative breast cancers (TNBCs). BCSC is a subset of tumor cells that has stem cell-like characteristics, such as a high capacity for self-renewal and tumor initiation, which implies that BCSC may cause aggressiveness of TNBC. ALDH1 has a role in early stem cell differentiation through its function in the oxidation of retinol to retinoic acid, proposed to be a strong candidate for breast cancer stem cells. Various studies have shown that ALDH1 is one of the markers of CSC that can be used as a prognosis indicator because it can be a biological marker for poor prognostic factors in TNBC. This study assessed the prognostic survival rate with a retrospective cohort method in TNBC patients. A total of 54 of 55 patients treated at RSCM were tested for the expression of ALDH1 through an immunohistochemistry assay of breast cancer tissue using ALDH1 staining. Survival analysis was done to obtain the prognostic data of ALDH1. Positive ALDH1 expression was obtained at 38.89% in TNBC patients. One-year survival and three years of survival in TNBC patients with positive ALDH1 expression were 42.9% and 33.3%, respectively. In this study, ALDH1 can be used as a poor survival prognostic factor with HR 2.636 and p value 0.013. The conclusion of this study is that ALDH1 can be used as a poor prognostic factor in TNBC patients although it cannot be an independent prognostic factor.