Absolute lymphocyte count as a biomarker for best supportive care transition in metastatic breast cancer.

OBJECTIVES: Time is crucial for patients with metastatic breast cancer (MBC), and clinicians are expected to determine the optimal timing for best supportive care (BSC) transition but no evident marker has been established. We recently revealed that absolute lymphocyte count (ALC) was a prognostic marker for patients with MBC. Thus, we investigated whether ALC could be an indicator of the best timing for the BSC transition. METHODS: 101 patients with MBC were retrospectively investigated, and the relationship between clinicopathological factors, including ALC, and the duration of the last treatment was analysed. RESULTS: Mean ALC significantly gradually decreased during the last three systemic treatments towards BSC transition. Patients of younger age, with special histology type, hormone receptor-positive tumours and low ALC at the start of the last treatment had significantly shorter time-to-treatment-termination (TTT) for the last treatment. When ALC was classified into low and high, the mean TTT of the last treatment in the ALC-low group was significantly shorter (16.4 weeks) compared with that in the ALC-high group (30.2 weeks; p=0.004). CONCLUSIONS: Our data suggest that ALC values, which decrease as MBC progresses, could serve as a potential indicator for determining the optimal timing of BSC transition.

Absolute lymphocyte count decreases with disease progression and is a potential prognostic marker for metastatic breast cancer.

PURPOSE: Peripheral blood parameters such as the neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) are prognostic markers for breast cancer patients. For instance, patients with a high NLR have a poor prognosis. Meanwhile, high absolute lymphocyte count (ALC) is reportedly a predictive factor for some chemotherapies. However, the underlying mechanisms behind how these markers relate to patient outcomes and how these markers change during the clinical course of patients with metastatic breast cancer (MBC) remains unknown. METHODS: We retrospectively investigated 156 patients who were treated for MBC and eventually transitioned to best supportive care (BSC) at our hospital between January 2017 and December 2021. Changes in peripheral blood parameters during MBC treatments and their association with patient outcomes were examined. RESULTS: From the time of MBC diagnosis (baseline) through to the transition to BSC, ALC became significantly lower, while the NLR and platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) became significantly higher (p < 0.001 for all). This association was independent of hormone receptor status. Cox proportional hazard modeling found patients with hormone receptor-negative and a lower baseline ALC had a significantly shorter overall survival (p = 0.030 and p = 0.019, respectively). CONCLUSION: We observed that peripheral blood markers gradually changed with MBC disease progression. Our data suggest that baseline ALC may be a potential prognostic marker after recurrence.

Successful treatment with steroid pulse therapy for a COVID-19 case with progressive respiratory failure during treatment for pleural metastasis of breast cancer.

BACKGROUND: Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infected patients are at high risk for developing severe conditions if other comorbidities are present, such as advanced cancer. Although the regulation of immune response is thought to play an important role in the treatment of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), physicians often have difficulties in selecting the most appropriate treatment. Furthermore, the impact that interrupting breast cancer treatment due to a COVID-19 infection has on patient outcomes is still unknown. Herein we report a case of advanced breast cancer in a patient whose COVID-19 acute respiratory failure was successfully treated with minimal interruption to their anticancer therapy for recurrent breast cancer. CASE PRESENTATION: A 48-year-old woman developed carcinomatous pleurisy after curative surgery for breast cancer. One month after the initiation of targeted therapy with palbociclib and fulvestrant, the pleural effusion decreased, but soon after she developed a COVID-19 infection. Dexamethasone (8 mg/day) was administered due to a prolonged fever, but her respiratory symptoms got worse and pneumonia appeared on a computed tomography (CT) scan 7 days after hospitalization. Thus, steroid pulse therapy (methylprednisolone 1000 mg/day) was administered for 3 days. Her respiratory condition rapidly improved. Two weeks after hospital discharge, complete regression of pneumonia was confirmed on CT scan, and her targeted therapy was resumed at the same dose and strength. More than 6 months later, her metastatic disease remains stable while on the same treatment. Retrospective analysis of the patient's neutralizing antibodies found the neutralizing activity was low in the early stages of infection, but became high after recovery. This suggests the patient acquired an immunity to SARS-CoV-2 through the infection, despite having a mild myelosuppression due to treatment for recurrent breast cancer. CONCLUSIONS: Steroid pulse therapy is available worldwide, and may have an important role in cancer patients who develop severe pneumonia from SARS-CoV-2, by enabling them to avoid any long-term disruption to anticancer therapy. Moreover, it might also be useful when antiviral therapies lose their efficacy due to mutations of the virus, such as the Omicron variant. A critical element in cases such as this one is that treatment decisions are made by a team of specialists, including pulmonologists.

Drug-induced aortitis of the subclavian artery caused by pegfilgrastim: a case report.

BACKGROUND: Pegfilgrastim is a modified version of granulocyte-colony stimulating factor (G-CSF), with a polyethylene glycol (PEG) that prolongs its half-life in peripheral blood. It is prophylactically administered during chemotherapy to prevent severe febrile neutropenia. G-CSF-related aortitis is a rare side effect but reports of this disease have been increasing in recent years, probably due to PEGylation. Herein, we report a case who developed pegfilgrastim-induced aortitis, localized to the right subclavian artery, during adjuvant chemotherapy. Her condition recovered without the use of steroids. CASE PRESENTATION: A 58-year-old woman was diagnosed with invasive ductal carcinoma of the left breast. She had a medical history of contralateral breast cancer and pyelonephritis. Following curative surgery for her left breast cancer, she received adjuvant chemotherapy. Two days after the first course of dose-dense paclitaxel, pegfilgrastim was used as planned. Eight days after the administration of pegfilgrastim, she developed a high fever of 38 °C and visited the emergency outpatient clinic 3 days after. Blood tests revealed an increased inflammatory response, and contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CT) revealed a wall thickening of the subclavian artery, suggesting aortitis caused by pegfilgrastim. She was hospitalized on day 15 when CRP increased to 21.5 mg/dL and the high fever continued. Blood and urine culture tests were negative throughout. Pegfilgrastim-induced aortitis was suspected and she was observed without the use of steroids. Seven days later, her fever abated. A contrast-enhanced CT scan on day 26 showed the subclavian artery wall thickening had disappeared. The patient continues to be afebrile and is currently on weekly paclitaxel without use of G-CSF. CONCLUSIONS: The onset of this disease is known to usually occur within 2 weeks after the first pegfilgrastim administration. Aortitis localized to the subclavian artery is relatively rare with the most frequent site being the aortic arch. Clinicians should be aware of the timing and location of onset of this disease.