Vimentin-positive invasive breast carcinoma of no special type: A breast carcinoma with lethal biological characteristics.

Vimentin is a stable mesenchymal immunohistochemical marker and is widely recognized as a major marker of mesenchymal tumors. The purpose of the present study was to investigate if the vimentin expression status might serve as a significant predictor of outcomes in patients with invasive breast carcinoma of no special type (IBC-NST) and to investigate, by comprehensive RNA sequencing analyses, the mechanisms involved in the heightened malignant potential of vimentin-positive IBC-NSTs. This study, conducted using the data of 855 patients with IBC-NST, clearly identified vimentin expression status as a very important independent biological parameter for accurately predicting the outcomes in patients with IBC-NST. RNA sequence analyses clearly demonstrated significant upregulation of coding RNAs known to be closely associated with cell proliferation or cellular senescence, and significant downregulation of coding RNAs known to be closely associated with transmembrane transport in vimentin-positive IBC-NSTs. We conclude that vimentin-positive IBC-NSTs show heightened malignant biological characteristics, possibly attributable to the upregulation of RNAs closely associated with proliferative activity and cellular senescence, and downregulation of RNAs closely associated with transmembrane transport in IBC-NSTs.

[Clinical Outcomes of Five Cases of Occult Breast Cancer in Which the Primary Site Was Not Detected in the Breast-by-Breast MRI].

Occult breast cancer is rare in practice. We studied the clinical outcomes of 5 occult breast cancers, including 2 with Luminal and 3 with non-Luminal subtypes, for which the primary site was not detected in the breast-by-breast MRI. The percentage of occult breast cancers that we encountered at our hospital was 0.11%. The mean age was 54 years. The Ki-67 labeling index value was 30% or higher for all the patients except one. Four patients were administered neoadjuvant chemotherapy and all but one patient received non-mastectomy and axillary dissection plus radiotherapy. We observed recurrent cases in one example each of the Luminal and HER2 subtypes, and both patients were less than 40 years old. The estimates of the probability of 5 year recurrence-free survival and 5 year overall survival were 40.0% and 66.7%, respectively. One recurrence case was a patient negative for ER and positive for HER2 wherein a breast cancer lesion appeared in the breast during post-treatment follow-up. Intrabreast relapse, which is itself rare in occult breast cancer, was observed 4 years postoperatively after standard treatment. Although there was no deviation according to subtype rate, the Ki-67 labeling index value was high and the prognosis was poor in our 5 cases.

Intracellular hypoxia measured by 18F-fluoromisonidazole positron emission tomography has prognostic impact in patients with estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer.

BACKGROUND: Hypoxia is a key driver of cancer progression. We evaluated the prognostic impact of 18F-fluoromisonidazole (FMISO) prior to treatment in patients with breast cancer. METHODS: Forty-four patients with stage II/III primary breast cancer underwent positron emission tomography/computed with 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG-PET/CT) and FMISO. After measurement by FDG-PET/CT, the tissue-to-blood ratio (TBR) was obtained using FMISO-PET/CT. FMISO-TBR was compared for correlation with clinicopathological factors, disease-free survival (DFS), and overall survival (OS). Multiplex cytokines were analyzed for the correlation of FMISO-TBR. RESULTS: Tumors with higher nuclear grade and negativities of estrogen receptor (ER) and progesterone receptor had significantly higher FMISO-TBR than other tumors. Kaplan-Meier survival curves showed that patients with a higher FMISO-TBR (cutoff, 1.48) had a poorer prognosis of DFS (p = 0.0007) and OS (p = 0.04) than those with a lower FMISO-TBR. Multivariate analysis indicated that higher FMISO-TBR and ER negativity were independent predictors of shorter DFS (p = 0.01 and 0.03). Higher FMISO-TBR was associated with higher plasma levels of angiogenic hypoxic markers such as vascular endothelial growth factor, transforming growth factor-α, and interleukin 8. CONCLUSIONS: FMISO-PET/CT is useful for assessing the prognosis of patients with breast cancer, but it should be stratified by ER status. TRIAL REGISTRATION: UMIN Clinical Trials Registry, UMIN000006802 . Registered on 1 December 2011.

Correction to: Intracellular hypoxia measured by F-18 fluoromisonidazole positron emission tomography has prognostic impact in patients with estrogen-receptor positive breast (BRCR-D17-00693).

After the publication of this article [1], we noticed that in Fig. 2, the survival curve images (C and D, lower panel) were incorrect. The corrected Fig. 2 is presented below. The correction does not affect in any our results and conclusions.

De Novo Migraine With Aura After Surgical Repair of Aortic Coarctation.

Coarctation of the aorta (CoA) is reported to be associated with an increased risk for migraine. We describe here the case of a 13-year-old female patient who presented migraine with aura after surgical repair of CoA with a stent. As possible reasons for her condition, we postulate host responses to stent placement and/or disturbed cerebral autoregulation related to intracranial hypertension before the surgical repair and hypotension afterward, leading to hypoperfusion. This case demonstrates that de novo migraine with aura can occur after surgical repair of CoA and should be recognized as a potential complication.

Fibrotic focus: An important parameter for accurate prediction of a high level of tumor-associated macrophage infiltration in invasive ductal carcinoma of the breast.

Our group and others have previously reported that a fibrotic focus is a very useful histological factor for the accurate prediction of the outcome of patients with invasive ductal carcinoma of the breast. We classified 258 cases of invasive ductal carcinoma into those with and those without a fibrotic focus to investigate whether the presence of a fibrotic focus was significantly associated with the degree of tumor-associated macrophage (CD68, CD163 or CD204-positive) infiltration or whether the presence of tumor-associated macrophage infiltration heightened the malignant potential of invasive ductal carcinoma with a fibrotic focus. Multiple regression analyses demonstrated that a fibrotic focus was the only factor that was significantly associated with a high level of CD68-, CD163- or CD204-positive tumor-associated macrophage infiltration. The combined assessment of the presence or absence of a fibrotic focus and a high or a low level of CD204-positive tumor-associated macrophage infiltration clearly demonstrated that CD204-positive tumor-associated macrophage infiltration had a significant prognostic power only for patients with invasive ductal carcinoma with a fibrotic focus in multivariate analyses; CD204-positive tumor-associated macrophages might only exert a significant effect on tumor progression when a fibrotic focus is present within the invasive ductal carcinoma of the breast.

Neoadjuvant chemotherapy with trastuzumab, docetaxel, and carboplatin administered every 3 weeks for Japanese women with HER2-positive primary breast cancer: efficacy and safety.

BACKGROUND: This phase II neoadjuvant study evaluated the efficacy and safety of a triweekly regimen of docetaxel and carboplatin in combination with trastuzumab (TCbH) in Japanese women with human epidermal growth factor receptor type2 (HER2)-positive primary breast cancer. METHODS: Patients with HER2-positive, stage I-III invasive breast cancer received six courses of trastuzumab (8 mg/kg loading dose, then 6 mg/kg, day 1), docetaxel (75 mg/m2, day 1), and carboplatin (area under the curve: 6, day 1) every 3 weeks. The primary endpoint was pathological complete response (pCR) of both breast and axillary lymph node disease. RESULTS: Fifty patients were enrolled in this study. Median age was 58 (range 32-75) years. All patients underwent definitive surgery. Thirty-three (66%) patients completed the chemotherapy course, while the treatment was delayed or discontinued in the other 17 (34%) patients because of adverse events (AEs). The pCR rate was 52%; the overall response rate was 66%. Grade 3/4 AEs due to nonhematological toxicity were anorexia (4%), diarrhea (2%), and rash (2%), and those due to hematological toxicity were neutropenia (36%), anemia (12%), and thrombocytopenia (2%). CONCLUSION: Although the triweekly six-course regimen of TCbH achieved a high pCR rate, hematological AEs frequently occurred during the latter part of the chemotherapy course. One-third of patients experienced delayed or discontinued chemotherapy. Clinical registration number: http://www.umin.org.au UMIN000013513.

Neoadjuvant triweekly nanoparticle albumin-bound paclitaxel followed by epirubicin and cyclophosphamide for Stage II/III HER2-negative breast cancer: evaluation of efficacy and safety.

OBJECTIVE: Nanoparticle albumin-bound paclitaxel (nab-PTX) is a solvent-free paclitaxel coupled to human albumin without an associated increase in toxicity. The neoadjuvant study of primary breast cancer was planned to evaluate tumor response and safety of triweekly nanoparticle albumin-bound paclitaxel. METHODS: Patients with Stage II/III HER2-negative primary breast cancer received four courses of nanoparticle albumin-bound paclitaxel 260 mg/m(2) every 3 weeks (q3w), followed by four courses of epirubicin 90 mg/m(2) plus cyclophosphamide 600 mg/m(2) q3w. Tumor response after nanoparticle albumin-bound paclitaxel was histologically evaluated. In addition, the clinical response, breast-conserving rate and safety of this treatment were monitored. RESULTS: Among 53 patients who received nanoparticle albumin-bound paclitaxel followed by epirubicin and cyclophosphamide neoadjuvant chemotherapy, pathological complete response and near-pathological complete response were confirmed in 3 (5.7%) and 7 (13.2%) patients who had surgery, respectively. The overall objective response rate was 71.7% after completion of chemotherapy. Based on Positron Emission Tomography Response Criteria in Solid Tumors using (18)F-fluorodeoxyglucose, complete metabolic response and partial metabolic response after 2-3 courses of nanoparticle albumin-bound paclitaxel were 15.1 and 52.8%, respectively. The most common significant toxicities of q3w nanoparticle albumin-bound paclitaxel were Grade 3 muscle pain, neuropathy and febrile neutropenia, each in 1 (1.9%) patient. There were no incidences of anaphylaxis or Grade 4/5 adverse events. CONCLUSION: Neoadjuvant chemotherapy using q3w nanoparticle albumin-bound paclitaxel followed by epirubicin and cyclophosphamide was feasible in breast cancer patients with acceptable clinical response and drug tolerance, but conferred a low rate of pathological complete response. Monotherapy with q3w nanoparticle albumin-bound paclitaxel could be an appropriate substitute for solvent-based taxane in terms of therapeutic and safety management.

Histological factors for accurately predicting first locoregional recurrence of invasive ductal carcinoma of the breast.

The accurate assessment of the risk of first locoregional recurrence is very important for improving the survival of patients with invasive ductal carcinoma of the breast. The present study investigated which histological factors (both well-known histological factors and factors that we have proposed) were the most capable of accurately predicting first locoregional recurrence among 1042 patients with invasive ductal carcinoma and various tumor statuses (overall, nodal status, Union Internationale Contre le Cancer pathological TNM stage, adjuvant therapy status, and adjuvant radiotherapy status) using multivariate analyses by the Cox proportional hazard regression model. The present study clearly demonstrated that the best factor for accurately predicting locoregional recurrence was grade 3 lymph vessel tumor embolus (>4 mitotic figures and >6 apoptotic figures in tumor embolus), followed by type 2 invasive ductal carcinoma (negative for fibrotic foci but positive for atypical tumor-stromal fibroblast), grade 2 lymph vessel tumor embolus (1-4 mitotic figures and >0 apoptotic figures in tumor embolus; >0 mitotic figures and 1-6 apoptotic figures in tumor embolus), primary invasive tumor cell-related factors (>19 mitotic figures, presence of tumor necrosis, presence of skin invasion) and >5 mitotic figures in metastatic carcinomas to the lymph node. Our proposed factors were superior to well-known histological factors of primary invasive tumors or clinicopathological factors for the accurate prediction of first locoregional recurrence in patients with invasive ductal carcinoma of the breast.

Simultaneous demonstration of gelatinolytic activity, morphology, and immunohistochemical reaction using zymography film.

In situ zymography has been used to assess gelatinolytic activity, which is mainly due to matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) in cancer tissues. MMPs play an important role in cancer invasion and metastasis. Film in situ zymography (FIZ) enables the in situ evaluation of gelatinolytic activity with high reproducibility. In this article, we report a study of FIZ, in a case of breast cancer with an invasive carcinoma component showing clear gelatinolytic activity, and in a non-invasive carcinoma component showing little gelatinolytic activity. Immunohistochemistry on FIZ was also performed. The simultaneous detection of gelatinolytic activity and immunohistochemical reaction was established in a single film. Immunohistochemistry on FIZ may have good potential for the investigation of cancer microenvironment.

Tumor budding and fibrotic focus-proposed grading system for tumor budding in invasive carcinoma no special type of the breast.

Tumor budding grade is a very useful histological prognostic indicator for colorectal cancer patients. Recently, it has been also reported as a significant prognostic indicator in invasive breast carcinoma patients. Our group and others have previously reported that the presence of a fibrotic focus in the tumor is a very useful histological finding for accurately predicting the prognosis in patients with invasive carcinoma of no special type (ICNST) of the breast. The purpose of the present study was to investigate whether a grading system incorporating tumor budding in a fibrotic focus is superior to the conventional grading system for tumor budding to accurately predict outcomes in patients with ICNST. According to our new grading system, we classified the tumors into grade I (164 cases), grade II (581 cases), and grade III (110 cases), and the results clearly demonstrated the significant superiority of the new grading system over that of conventional tumor budding alone for accurately predicting outcomes in patients with ICNST. Our findings strongly suggest that tumor cells and tumor-stromal cells interaction play very important roles in tumor progression rather than tumor cells alone.

Hidden breast cancer after breast augmentation, not presenting as a hypoechoic mass lesion, diagnosed using colour Doppler ultrasound.

The main concern after breast augmentation with silicone injection is that silicone granulomas make it difficult to detect breast cancer. A case of breast cancer was diagnosed using colour Doppler ultrasound (CD) to detect an non-palpable mass not presenting as a hypoechoic mass lesion. An 83-year-old woman was incidentally found to have a lesion in her right breast, which was injected with silicone, showing 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) uptake; the lesion was suspected to be breast cancer or silicone granuloma. A mass at the FDG uptake site was not detected on ultrasonography (US); however, observation using CD revealed a slightly hypoechoic area with hypervascularity. Core needle biopsy showed invasive ductal carcinoma. Patients in whom US does not reveal lesions after breast augmentation with silicone injection should undergo CD to detect hypervascularised tissue. To prevent false-negative biopsy results, CD is essential to detect cancer at suspected sites.

Granuloma after breast conserving surgery-a report of three cases.

Granulomatous mastitis is a rare breast disease that is categorized as a benign tumor with chronic inflammation. Since the cause of the chronic inflammation is usually unknown, it is sometimes called idiopathic granulomatous mastitis (IGM). Although imaging modalities, such as ultrasound, magnetic resonance imaging and mammography can detect tumors, they are sometimes unable to differentiate between benign and malignant tumors. In such cases, biopsy is needed to make a correct diagnosis. We experienced three cases of IGM after breast conserving surgery in breast cancer patients in whom we needed to rule out recurrence of breast cancer. In our cases, tumorectomy was performed in two cases for pathological diagnosis, since neither biopsy nor cytology was able to reveal a conclusive pathological diagnosis. Our management of these three cases might suggest the appropriate management of granulomatous tumors after breast conserving surgery in breast cancer survivors.

Nerve invasion distance is dependent on laminin gamma2 in tumors of pancreatic cancer.

The distance of nerve invasion is an important prognostic factor in pancreatic cancer. The extracellular matrix (ECM) of nerve, mainly composed of laminin, collagen IV and anchoring fibrils, might affect nerve invasion. However, this relationship has not been demonstrated. Our study aimed at discovering the promoting factor of nerve invasion within the tumoral ECM. An animal model was established to evaluate the distance of nerve invasion in murine sciatic nerves by intraneural injection of 6 human pancreatic cancer cell lines. mRNA expression of laminins and anchoring fibrils was compared to the distance of nerve invasion for each cancer cell line. A target molecule provided the strong association between mRNA expression and the distance of nerve invasion. To evaluate the role of a target molecule in nerve invasion, protein expression and function were examined using an animal model and surgical cases. Cancer cells with high laminin gamma2 mRNA and protein expression in their basement membranes were associated with long nerve invasion. Knockdown of laminin gamma2 in cancer cells significantly shortened nerve invasion in the animal model. In 75 patients with pancreatic cancer, a large distance of nerve invasion was associated with high expression levels of laminin gamma2 mRNA and basement membranous deposition of laminin gamma2 protein. Our results indicate that laminin gamma2 plays an important role in nerve invasion. The measurement of the nerve invasion distance in our mouse nerve invasion model is useful for evaluating the molecular mechanisms of nerve invasion.

p53 expression in tumor-stromal fibroblasts forming and not forming fibrotic foci in invasive ductal carcinoma of the breast.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether p53 protein expression in tumor-stromal fibroblasts forming fibrotic foci is a significant outcome predictor, similar to p53 protein expression in tumor-stromal fibroblasts not forming fibrotic foci, and whether the combined assessment of p53 expression in tumor-stromal fibroblasts forming and not forming fibrotic foci served as an important outcome predictor among 1039 patients with invasive ductal carcinoma of the breast. We analyzed the outcome predictive power of the Allred score risk classification for p53 in tumor-stromal fibroblasts forming and not forming fibrotic foci using multivariate analyses with well-known clinicopathological factors. The Allred score risk classifications for p53 in tumor-stromal fibroblasts forming and not forming fibrotic foci were superior to the Allred scores for p53 in tumor-stromal fibroblasts not forming fibrotic foci alone for accurately predicting the tumor-related death of patients with invasive ductal carcinoma when examined using multivariate analyses. The Allred score risk classification for p53 in tumor-stromal fibroblasts forming and not forming fibrotic foci significantly increased the hazard rates for tumor recurrence and tumor-related death independent of the UICC pTNM stage in the multivariate analyses. These results indicated that the Allred score risk classification based on the combined assessment of p53 expression in tumor-stromal fibroblasts forming and not forming fibrotic foci is a very useful outcome predictor among patients with invasive ductal carcinoma.

Grading system for lymph vessel tumor emboli: significant outcome predictor for patients with invasive ductal carcinoma of the breast who received neoadjuvant therapy.

The purpose of this study was to confirm that the grades of lymph vessel tumor emboli in biopsy specimens obtained before neoadjuvant therapy and in the surgical specimens obtained after neoadjuvant therapy according to the grading system we devised are significant histological outcome predictor for invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC) patients who received neoadjuvant therapy. The subjects of this study were the 318 consecutive IDC patients who had received neoadjuvant therapy in our institution. The lymph vessel tumor embolus grades in the biopsy specimens and in the surgical specimens were significantly associated with the increases in mean number of nodal metastases. Multivariate analyses with well-known prognostic factors and p53 expression in tumor-stromal fibroblasts clearly showed that the lymph vessel tumor embolus grade based on the biopsy specimens and based on the surgical specimens significantly increased the hazard rates for tumor recurrence and tumor-related death in all the IDC patients as a whole, in the IDC patients who did not have nodal metastasis, and in the IDC patients who had nodal metastasis, and the outcome-predictive power of the lymph vessel tumor embolus grades based on the surgical specimens was superior to that of the lymph vessel tumor embolus grades based on the biopsy specimens. The grades in the grading system for lymph vessel tumor emboli were significantly associated with nodal metastasis, and the histological grading system is an excellent system for accurately predicting the outcome of patients with IDC of the breast who have received neoadjuvant therapy.

A case of secretory breast cancer in a 6 year-old girl: is it possible to make a correct preoperative diagnosis?

Secretory breast carcinoma constitutes the majority of breast cancers in children and young people less than 20 years of age. Noninvasive examination is particularly necessary for the diagnosis of breast carcinoma in children. Herein, we report a case of secretory breast carcinoma in a 6-year-old girl with psychomotor retardation. She was referred to our outpatient clinic for evaluation of a palpable mass in her left breast. A hard mass, rather than the increase in size typical of premature thelarche, was palpated. An excision biopsy was performed. Pathological findings revealed an invasive secretory breast carcinoma. We performed a retrospective review of the preoperative findings of this case, and compared it to the pathological diagnosis. Elastography, which can be performed without deep sedation or general anesthesia and without causing pain, resulted in a stiffness score of 4; however, the distinction between benign and malignant tumors on elastography, which is important to decide the intra-operative procedures, was not sufficient according to the Japanese breast cancer society clinical guidelines. This is the first report of secretory breast carcinoma in a child with a stiffness score determined by tissue elasticity imaging. A breast mass in a child with a high stiffness score of more than 4 on elastography should be referred for invasive diagnostic procedures, such as fine needle aspiration or excisional biopsy. According to our experience, an accurate preoperative diagnosis could be possible for malignant breast tumors in children. Such parameters as stiffness score on elastography are practical, noninvasive, and objective diagnostic tools for the accurate preoperative diagnosis of breast tumors in children.

Tumor histology in lymph vessels and lymph nodes for the accurate prediction of outcome among breast cancer patients treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy.

The present study investigated fibrotic foci (FFs), the grading system for lymph vessel tumor emboli (LVTEs), and the histological characteristics of nodal metastatic tumors that were significantly associated with the outcomes of 115 patients with invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC) who had received neoadjuvant chemotherapy. We compared the outcome predictive power of FFs, the grading system for LVTEs, and the histological characteristics of metastatic tumors in lymph nodes with the well-known clinicopathological characteristics of tumor recurrence and tumor-related death in multivariate analyses. The presence of FFs, as assessed by a biopsy performed before neoadjuvant chemotherapy, significantly increased the hazard rates (HRs) for tumor-related death in all the cases and in cases with nodal metastasis. The grading system for LVTEs, which was assessed using surgical specimens obtained after neoadjuvant chemotherapy, was significantly associated with increasing hazard rates (HRs) for tumor recurrence and tumor-related death in all the cases and in cases with nodal metastasis. Moderate to severe stroma in nodal metastatic tumors and five or more mitotic figures in nodal metastatic tumors were significantly associated with elevated HRs for tumor recurrence and tumor-related death among all the cases. These results indicated that FFs, the grading system for LVTEs, and the histological characteristics of tumor cells in lymph nodes play important roles in predicting the tumor progression of IDCs of the breast in patients treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy.

p53 expression in tumor stromal fibroblasts is associated with the outcome of patients with invasive ductal carcinoma of the breast.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether p53 protein expression in tumor stromal fibroblasts assessed immunohistochemically by the Allred score system is significantly associated with nodal metastasis by invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC), and significantly associated with the outcome of 1042 IDC patients according to adjuvant therapy status, UICC pTNM stage, and triple-negative IDC status, in multivariate analyses with well-known clinicopathological factors. The Allred scores for p53 expression in tumor stromal fibroblasts were significantly associated with the number of nodal metastases, and Allred scores of 4-8 for p53 in tumor stromal fibroblasts significantly increased the hazard rate for distant organ metastasis or for tumor death in the triple-negative IDC patients, and the UICC pTNM stage I, II, and III patients. The results indicated that p53 protein expression in tumor stromal fibroblasts is closely associated with the number of nodal metastases and the outcome of IDC patients.