Comparative Study of the One-step Nucleic Acid Amplification Assay and Conventional Histological Examination for the Detection of Breast Cancer Sentinel Lymph Node Metastases.

Intraoperative sentinel lymph node (SLN) biopsy is widely used in patients with early-stage breast cancer and is conventionally performed using hematoxylin and eosin-based histological examination. The one-step nucleic acid amplification (OSNA) assay is a molecular diagnostic tool and a semi-automated lymph node examination method. The purpose of this study was to compare the performance of the OSNA assay and conventional histological examination with frozen sections (FSs) by using 111 SLN biopsy samples from 89 patients at the Tokai University Hospital. The SLN samples were split into 3 slices: the middle slice was used for FS histological examination and the other slices were used for the OSNA assay. The McNemar test was used to compare the differences in the sensitivity and specificity between the OSNA assay and FS histological examination. The sensitivity of the OSNA assay (97.1%) was less than that of FS histological examination (100%), but this difference was not statistically significant (P = 0.125). The specificity of both the methods was identical (96.9%). Despite previously published results suggesting that the OSNA assay is as reliable as histological examinations, our results indicate that this assay often fails to detect micrometastases or isolated tumor cells in SLNs.

Prognostic significance of the Ki67 scoring categories in breast cancer subgroups.

BACKGROUND: Immunohistochemical (IHC) expression of Ki67 has a prognostic and predictive value for breast cancer, and the IHC Ki67 labeling index is estimated by counting the number of positive and negative cells. It has not been clarified whether IHC Ki67 estimated using a semiquantitative scoring system has a prognostic value. We aimed to estimate the usefulness of scoring categories of IHC Ki67 as a prognostic factor for breast cancer subgroups. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We retrospectively identified patients in the Tokai University breast cancer database for whom IHC Ki67 data were available between January 1, 2000 and December 31, 2010. Survival curves were calculated using the Kaplan-Meier method and compared using the log-rank test. RESULTS: Of the 1331 primary breast cancer patients included in the study, In patients with estrogen receptor (ER)-positive and HER2-negative tumors (n = 971), high and intermediate Ki67 scores were associated with poorer relapse-free survival than low Ki67 scores (P < .001 and P = .002, respectively). Furthermore, in the multivariate analyses of this subgroup, progression-free survival (PFS) was significantly longer in patients with low Ki67 scores than in patients with high Ki67 scores (hazard ratio, 0.387; 95% confidence interval, 0.233-0.643; P < .001). In the multivariate analyses, the Ki67 score was not significantly associated with PFS in the ER-positive and HER2-positive, ER-negative and HER2-positive, or ER-negative and HER2-negative subgroups. CONCLUSION: Our data demonstrated that low, intermediate, and high Ki67 scores have a prognostic value in breast cancer patients with ER-positive and HER2-negative tumors.

Feasibility and pharmacokinetics of combined therapy with S-1 and trastuzumab in patients with human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-positive metastatic or recurrent breast cancer.

BACKGROUND: To clarify the tolerance and pharmacokinetics of combined therapy with S-1 and trastuzumab in patients with human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-positive metastatic or recurrent breast cancer. METHODS: From January 2008 through to September 2009, combined therapy with S-1 and trastuzumab was given to 7 patients with HER2-positive metastatic or recurrent breast cancer. The incidence of adverse events and the pharmacokinetics of tegafur, 5-fluorouracil, and gimeracil in plasma were studied. RESULTS: One patient had grade 3 leukopenia, and another had a grade 3 elevation of alanine aminotransferase. All other adverse events were grade 2 or lower. The combination of S-1 and trastuzumab did not cause any new adverse events. The incidence of adverse events was similar to those associated with S-1 alone. The median number of treatment cycles was 11. The pharmacokinetics of tegafur, 5-fluorouracil, and gimeracil after treatment with S-1 plus trastuzumab did not markedly differ from those after S-1 alone. CONCLUSIONS: Combined therapy with S-1 and trastuzumab did not cause any new adverse events, administration continuity was good, and the therapy was well tolerated.

Post-marketing safety evaluation of S-1 in patients with inoperable or recurrent breast cancer: especially in patients treated with S-1 + trastuzumab.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to assess the safety of S-1 in Japanese in inoperable or recurrent breast cancer patients. METHODS: A prospective post-marketing surveillance was performed at 313 sites in Japan in patients with inoperable or recurrent breast cancer treated with S-1. We examined 1361 patients between January 2006 and December 2007 with regard to the incidence of adverse drug reactions graded by the Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (CTCAE), version 3.0. RESULTS: At least one adverse drug reaction was encountered by 858 patients, with an overall incidence of 63.0% (858/1361). The incidence of Grade 3 or higher adverse drug reactions in a descending order was 14.7% (200/1361). In this study, the most common combination drug was trastuzumab. The overall incidence of adverse drug reactions was 63.5% (431/679 patients) in patients treated with S-1 alone, and 55.9% (66/118 patients) in patients treated with S-1 + trastuzumab. CONCLUSIONS: Monotherapy with S-1 or combination therapy with S-1 + trastuzumab was well tolerated for inoperable or recurrent breast cancer patients.

[Breast cancer].

Almost all breast cancer patients are treated with chemotherapy, hormone therapy, molecular targeted therapy, radiotherapy, and surgery alone or in combination. It is reasonable and standard to choose a combination according to clinical practice guidelines. One of the objectives of clinical practice guidelines is to standardize medical care and provide equal quality of care for patients wherever they live in Japan. Recently, many clinical trials have been conducted internationally. Therefore, it is necessary to standardize medical care from an international viewpoint. In this paper, the breast cancer clinical practice guideline developed by the Japanese Breast Cancer Society was compared with other guidelines which have been already developed and are frequently utilized all over the world as well as in Japan.

Trastuzumab and chemotherapy after the treatment failure of lapatinib for HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer.

We describe a patient with human epidermal growth factor receptor type 2 (HER2/c-erbB-2)-positive metastatic breast cancer who survived for approximately 6 years after the initiation of combination therapy with trastuzumab and varying types of chemotherapeutic agents. The patient was a 48-year-old postmenopausal female who underwent partial mastectomy with axillary node dissection for cancer of the right breast in March 1994. She developed lung metastases 2 years thereafter, but survived free of relapse for 8 years following chemotherapy and pulmonary lobectomy. The patient failed to respond to lapatinib, a HER1 (EGFR)/HER2 tyrosine kinase inhibitor, received during the course of her treatment but then again responded to subsequently administered trastuzumab. Primary treatment with trastuzumab and paclitaxel was initiated in April 2004 when the patient developed hepatic metastases 8 years after undergoing surgery for lung metastases. Long-term combination therapy with continued trastuzumab and a variety of chemotherapeutic agents was administered for 6 years without any significant adverse events. We discuss the treatment strategies for HER2-positive breast cancer and the role of lapatinib, a recently approved anticancer drug.