Clinical characteristics and prognosis of newly-treated patients with primary central nervous system lymphoma: a multicenter retrospective study / 白血病·淋巴瘤

Objective:To investigate the clinical characteristics, treatment and prognosis of newly-treated patients with primary central nervous system lymphoma (PCNSL).Methods:Clinical data of 117 newly-treated PCNSL patients who were admitted to the First Hospital of Jilin University, the Fifth Medical Center of Chinese PLA General Hospital, Harbin Medical University Cancer Hospital, and Cancer Hospital of Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College from August 2009 to February 2018 were retrospectively analyzed. The patients' age, sex, Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) physical status (PS) score, pathological type, involvement of deep brain tissue, number of lesions, cerebrospinal fluid protein concentration, International Extranodal Lymphoma Study Group (IELSG) score, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) score, treatment strategy, and response after the first-line therapy were analyzed using univariate and multivariate Cox proportional hazards models to identify the independent influencing factors for progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) of PCNSL patients. Kaplan-Meier method was used for survival analysis.Results:In 117 newly-treated PCNSL patients, 59 cases (50.4%) presented with increased intracranial pressure or focal neurological symptoms at diagnosis; there were 65 cases (55.6%) with single lesions and 52 cases (44.4%) with multiple lesions; 1 patient (0.9%) had lymphoma of T-cell origin, and 116 cases (99.1%) had diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL). Among 95 evaluable patients, 41 patients (43.2%) achieved complete remission (CR), 20 patients (21.1%) achieved partial remission (PR), 16 patients (16.8%) achieved stable disease (SD), and 18 patients (18.9%) had progressive disease (PD). In 117 patients with median follow-up of 66.0 months (95% CI 57.9-74.1 months), the median PFS and OS were 17.4 months (95% CI 11.5-23.3 months) and 45.6 months (95% CI 20.1-71.1 months), respectively. The 2-, 3- and 5-year PFS rates were 41.2%, 28.6% and 19.3%, and OS rates were 63.7%, 52.4% and 46.3%, respectively. Univariate Cox regression analysis showed that baseline high-risk MSKCC score group was an adverse prognostic factor for PFS ( P = 0.037), and the first-line chemotherapy with ≥4 cycles of high-dose methotrexate (HDMTX), HDMTX in combination with rituximab, ≥4 cycles of rituximab in combination with HDMTX, and achieving CR or ≥PR after the first-line treatment reduced the risk of disease progression and prolonged the PFS time (all P <0.01); age >60 years old, ECOG-PS score of 2-4 points, elevated cerebrospinal fluid protein concentration, high-risk IELSG score, and high-risk MSKCC score were adverse prognostic factors for OS, and ≥4 cycles of HDMTX and achieving CR or ≥PR after the first-line treatment were favorable factors for OS. Multivariate Cox regression analysis verified that rituximab in combination with HDMTX (yes vs. no: HR = 0.349, 95% CI 0.133-0.912, P = 0.032) and achieving ≥PR after the first-line chemotherapy (yes vs. no: HR = 0.028, 95% CI 0.004-0.195, P < 0.001) were independent favorable factors for PFS; age >60 years old (>60 years old vs. ≤60 years old: HR = 10.878, 95% CI 1.807-65.488, P = 0.009) was independent unfavorable factor for OS, while ≥4 cycles of HDMTX treatment (≥4 cycles vs. <4 cycles: HR = 0.225, 95% CI 0.053-0.947, P = 0.042) was independent favorable factor for OS. Conclusions:The older the PCNSL patients at initial treatment, the worse the prognosis. Intensive and continuous treatment for achieving deeper remission may be the key for improving the outcome of PCNSL patients.

Expression of miR-124 and its relationship with E-cadherin and androgen receptor in triple-negative breast cancer / 实用肿瘤学杂志

Objective The objective of this study was to explore the expression of miRNA-124(miR-124)and its correlation with E-cadherin and androgen receptor(AR)in triple-negative breast cancer(TNBC).Methods The expression of miR-124 was detected by RT-PCR in TNBC tissues and adjacent normal breast tissues.The expression of E-cadherin and AR in TNBC was detected by immunohistochemistry.Results The expression of miR-124 in TNBC tissues was significantly correlated with histological grade and the expression of E-cadherin(P0.05).Conclusion In TNBC,miR-124 may play an anti-tumor effect by modulating the expression of E-cadherin.

Androgen receptor expression in male breast cancer predicts inferior outcome and poor response to tamoxifen treatment.

OBJECTIVE: Androgen receptor (AR) plays an important role in male breast cancer (MBC). Additionally, endocrine therapy is the most important treatment in oestrogen receptor (ER)-positive advanced breast cancer. This study was aimed to investigate the role of AR in MBC treatment and prognosis and to analyse the relationship between AR and the effect of tamoxifen treatment in MBC patients. METHODS: AR protein levels and other tumour characteristics (e.g. expression of ER (ESR1), PR (PGR), AR, HER2 (ERBB2) and Ki-67 (MKI67)) in breast cancer tissue from 102 MBC patients were determined using immunohistochemical analysis. Additionally, the relationship between AR status and clinicopathological features was analysed using the χ(2)-test. Association with survival was initially analysed using the Kaplan-Meier method and the log-rank test, and Cox regression analysis was used to adjust for other prognostic indicators. RESULTS: High expression of AR was not correlated with T-stage, histological grade, HER2 status and the status of other sex hormone receptors, but was associated with lymph node metastases (P=0.032). AR-positive patients showed significantly shorter 5-year overall survival (OS) rates (P=0.045) and 5-year disease-free survival (DFS) rates (P=0.026) than AR-negative patients. By contrast, for patients who received tamoxifen therapy, AR-negative patients showed a higher clinical benefit rate than AR-positive patients (P=0.025). Additionally, the median TTP and OS were significantly different (P=0.02 for TTP; P=0.029 for OS). CONCLUSIONS: AR expression correlates strongly with both OS and DFS in patients with MBC. AR-positive patients can predict a poorer clinical outcome than AR-negative patients after adjuvant tamoxifen therapy.

Significance of the expression of MMP-9 and E-cadherin in triple negative breast cancer / 实用肿瘤学杂志

Objective To investigate the expression of matrixmetalloprotein -9(MMP-9)and E-cad-herin in triple negative breast cancer ( TNBC) and its relationship with the clinicopathologic features of TNBC .To analyze the function of MMP -9 and E-cadherin in TNBC .Methods Immunohistochemical method was used to detect the expression of MMP -9 and E-cadherin in 127 cases of TNBC.Results The MMP-9 positive rate was 53.54%and E-cadherin positive grade was 32.28%in TNBC.Expression of MMP-9 was correlated with tumor size(P=0.007),histological grade(P=0.006),TNM stage(P=0.003),lymph node metastasis(P=0.000)and lymph duct invasive(P=0.000).Expression of E-cadherin was correlated with lymph node metasta-sis(P=0.016)and lymph duct invasive(P=0.015).However,they were not correlated with other factors .Con-clusion The expression of MMP -9 and E -cadherin was correlated with invasion and metastasis in TNBC , which could be an important research topic in the future studies .