SNAI2/SLUG and estrogen receptor mRNA expression are inversely correlated and prognostic of patient outcome in metastatic non-small cell lung cancer.

BACKGROUND: Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is involved in important malignant features of cancer cells, like invasion, metastatic potential, anti-apoptotic and stem-cell like phenotypes. Among several transcription factors, SNAI2/SLUG is supposed to play an essential role for EMT. METHODS: Paraffin embedded tumor samples from 63 patients with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer, enrolled in a randomized phase II trial, were prospectively collected, 53 samples qualified for further analysis. Automated RNA extraction from paraffin and RT-quantitative PCR was used for evaluation of SNAI2/SLUG, estrogen receptor 1 (ESR1) and matrix-metalloproteinases (MMP) mRNA expression. RESULTS: Clinical features like age, gender, performance status, histological subtype and stage were similarly distributed among SNAI2/SLUG positive and negative patients. SNAI2/SLUG was significantly, inversely correlated with ESR1 mRNA expression (p < 0.0001). In contrast, MMP2 (p = 0.387), MMP7 (p = 0.396) and MMP9 mRNA expression (p = 0.366) did not correlate with SNAI2/SLUG. Patients with high SNAI2/SLUG expression (grouped by median expression) had a worse outcome. Median overall survival in patients with high SNAI2/SLUG expression was 5.7 months versus 11.6 months with low SNAI2/SLUG expression (p = .038). Inversely, patients with high ESR1 expression (grouped by median expression) had an improved median OS with 10.9 months vs. 5.0 months in the low expression group (p = .032). In multivariate analysis, SNAI2/SLUG2 (p = .022) and ESR1 (p = .017) separately were independent prognostic factors for survival. CONCLUSION: SNAI2/SLUG is prognostic of patients' outcome. The strong inverse correlation with ESR1 indicates a significant impact of estrogen receptor pathway regarding these malignant features.

The validation of a novel method combining both HER2 immunohistochemistry and HER2 dual-colour silver in situ hybridization on one slide for gastric carcinoma testing.

BACKGROUND: HER2 status assessment is a prerequisite for the establishment of an appropriate treatment strategy in gastric cancer. Gastric cancers are very heterogeneous and separate evaluations of gene amplification and protein expression lead to uncertainties in localizing distinct clones and are time consuming. This study evaluates the equivalence of the novel method combining both gene and protein platforms on one slide. METHODS: Immunohistochemistry (IHC) and HER2 dual-colour silver in situ hybridization (SISH) as single methods (IHC/SISH) and gene-protein platform combining both methods on one slide (gene/protein) were performed in randomly collected 100 cases of gastric adenocarcinoma. Results of IHC/SISH were compared with gene/protein staining. RESULTS: 96 of 100 samples were assessable. In the gene/protein staining, pathologists were able to assess gene amplification and consequent protein expression at the single cell level. In comparison trials, gene amplification was observed in 14.6% by both, conventional SISH and gene/protein platform (agreement 100%; Kappa-coefficient κ = 1.0). Protein expression scores by IHC were 70.8% (0), 10.4% (1+), 9.4% (2+), and 9.4% (3+). Protein expression by gene/protein method were: 70.8% (0), 11.5% (1+), 7.3% (2+) and 10.4% (3+) of patients. There were complete concordances in IHC assessment of cases with score 0 (100.0%; κ = 1). High concordances are shown in score 1+ (98.96%; κ = 0.947) and 3+ (96.88%; κ = 0.825) cases and good concordances in 2+ cases (95.83%; κ = 0.728). CONCLUSIONS: This novel combined platform has the advantage of being able to evaluate both gene and the protein status in the same cancer cell and may be of particular interest for research and patient's care. ARTICLE CATEGORY: Disease Biomarker.

VEGFR-3 and CXCR4 as predictive markers for treatment with fluorouracil, leucovorin plus either oxaliplatin or cisplatin in patients with advanced esophagogastric cancer: a comparative study of the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Internistische Onkologie (AIO).

BACKGROUND: Combination of fluoropyrimidines and a platinum derivative are currently standards for systemic chemotherapy in advanced adenocarcinoma of the stomach and gastroesophageal junction (GEJ). Nevertheless, individual likelihood for response to these therapeutic regimes remains uncertain. Even more, no predictive markers are available to determine which patients may benefit more from oxaliplatin versus cisplatin or vice versa. The new invasion and stem cell markers VEGFR-3 and CXCR4 have been linked prognostically with more aggressive esophagogastric cancer types. Thus, we aimed to assess correlations of VEGFR-3 and CXCR4 expression levels with clinical outcome in a randomized phase III study of patients with oxaliplatin/leucovorin/5-FU (FLO) versus cisplatin/leucovorin/5-FU (FLP). METHODS: The patients data examined in this study (n = 72) were from the collective of the FLO vs. FLP phase III AIO trial. Tumour tissues were stained via immunohistochemistry for VEGFR-3 and CXCR4 expression and results were evaluated by two independent, blinded investigators.Outcome parameter: Survival analysis was calculated for patients receiving FLO vs. FLP in relation to VEGFR-3 and CXCR4 expression. RESULTS: 54% and 36% of the examined tumour tissues showed strong positive expression of VEGFR-3 and CXCR4 respectively. No superiority of each regime was detected in terms of overall survival (OS) in the whole population. Patients with strong expression of CXCR4 on their tumour tissues profited more in terms of OS under the treatment of FLP (mOS: 28 vs 15 months, p = 0.05 respectively). Patients with negative VEGFR-3 and CXCR4 expression had a trend to live longer when FLO regime was applied (mOS: 22 vs. 9 months, p = 0.099 and 20 vs. 10 months, p = 0.073 respectively). In an exploratory analysis of patients older than 60 years at diagnosis, we observed a significant benefit in overall survival for VEGFR-3 and CXCR4-positive patients when treated with FLP (p = 0.002, p = 0.021 respectively). CONCLUSIONS: CXCR4 positive patients profited in terms of OS from FLP, whereas FLO proved to be more effective in CXCR4 and VEGFR-3 negative patients. Our results suggest, despite the limited size of the study, a predictive value of these biomarkers concerning chemotherapy with FLP or FLO in advanced esophagogastric cancer.

The prognostic impact of epidermal growth factor receptor in patients with metastatic gastric cancer.

BACKGROUND: The epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) is a potential target of anticancer therapy in gastric cancer. However, its prognostic role in metastatic gastric or gastroesophageal junction (GE) cancer has not been established yet. METHODS: EGFR status was analyzed by immunohistochemistry (IHC) in paraffin-embedded samples from 357 patients who received chemotherapy in 4 first-line trials. Automated RNA extraction from paraffin and RT-quantitative PCR were additionally used to evaluate EGFR mRNA expression in 130 patients. RESULTS: EGFR protein expression (any grade) and overexpression (3+) were observed in 43% and 11% of patients, respectively. EGFR positivity correlated with intestinal type histology (p = 0.05), but not with other clinicopathologic characteristics. Median follow-up was 18.2 months. Median overall survival (OS) was similar in patients with EGFR positive vs. those with EGFR negative tumors, regardless whether positivity was defined as ≥1+ (10.6 vs. 10.9 months, p = 0.463) or as 3+ (8.6 vs. 10.8 months, p = 0.377). The multivariate analysis indicated that EGFR status is not an independent prognostic factor (hazard ratio 0.85, 0.56 to 1.12, p = 0.247). There were also no significant differences in overall survival when patients were categorized according to median (p = 0.116) or quartile (p = 0.767) distribution of EGFR mRNA gene expression. Similar distributions of progression-free survival according to EGFR status were observed. CONCLUSIONS: Unlike different cancer types where EGFR-positive disease is associated with an adverse prognostic value, EGFR positivity is not prognostic of patient outcome in metastatic gastric or GE cancer.

Prognostic impact of phosphorylated mitogen-activated protein kinase expression in patients with metastatic gastric cancer.

BACKGROUND: This study was designed to investigate the expression of phosphorylated mitogen-activated protein kinase (p-MAPK/Erk1 and Erk2) and its correlation with outcomes in patients with metastatic gastric cancer. METHODS: p-MAPK was detected by immunohistochemistry using monoclonal antibodies in a total of 223 formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded samples obtained from 156 patients who received first-line chemotherapy in a phase III trial. RESULTS: p-MAPK was positive in 93 (59.6%) and negative in 63 (40.4%) of the 156 patients evaluated. Similar rates of p-MAPK positivity were found in primaries (53%) and metastatic lesions (61.4%). Overall survival was significantly shorter in p-MAPK-positive patients (13.7 vs. 8.5 months) in the univariate analysis. However, this prognostic value disappeared as a trend in the multivariate analysis (p = 0.1). There was a strong, positive correlation between p-MAPK and the MIB-1 proliferation index, but MIB-1 did not predict outcomes. CONCLUSION: p-MAPK expression could be a potential negative prognostic parameter in patients with metastatic gastric cancer treated with chemotherapy.