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Purpose@#This single-arm phase II trial investigate the efficacy and safety of S-1 plus oxaliplatin (SOX) in patients with metastatic breast cancer. @*Materials and Methods@#Patients with metastatic breast cancer previously treated with anthracyclines and taxanes were enrolled. Patients received S-1 (40-60 mg depending on patient’s body surface area, twice a day, day 1-14) and oxaliplatin (130 mg/m2, day 1) in 3 weeks cycle until disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. The primary endpoint was objective response rate (ORR) according to Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumor 1.1. Secondary endpoints included time-to-progression (TTP), duration-of-response (DoR), overall survival (OS), and adverse events. @*Results@#A total of 87 patients were enrolled from 11 institutions in Korea. Hormone receptor was positive in 54 (62.1%) patients and six (6.9%) had human epidermal growth factor receptor 2–positive disease. Forty-eight patients (85.1%) had visceral metastasis and 74 (55.2%) had more than three sites of metastases. The ORR of SOX regimen was 38.5% (95% confidence interval [CI], 26.9 to 50.0) with a median TTP of 6.0 months (95% CI, 5.1 to 6.9). Median DoR and OS were 10.3 months (95% CI, 5.5 to 15.1) and 19.4 (95% CI, not estimated) months, respectively. Grade 3 or 4 neutropenia was reported in 28 patients (32.1%) and thrombocytopenia was observed in 23 patients (26.6%). @*Conclusion@#This phase II study showed that SOX regimen is a reasonable option in metastatic breast cancer previously treated with anthracyclines and taxanes.
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Purpose@#We investigated the consistent efficacy and safety of eflapegrastim, a novel long-acting granulocyte-colony stimulating factor (G-CSF), in Koreans and Asians compared with the pooled population of two global phase 3 trials. @*Materials and Methods@#Two phase 3 trials (ADVANCE and RECOVER) evaluated the efficacy and safety of fixed-dose eflapegrastim (13.2 mg/0.6 mL [3.6 mg G-CSF equivalent]) compared to pegfilgrastim (6 mg based on G-CSF) in breast cancer patients who received neoadjuvant or adjuvant docetaxel/cyclophosphamide. The primary objective was to demonstrate non-inferiority of eflapegrastim compared to pegfilgrastim in mean duration of severe neutropenia (DSN) in cycle 1, in Korean and Asian subpopulations. @*Results@#Among a total of 643 patients randomized to eflapegrastim (n=314) or pegfilgrastim (n=329), 54 Asians (29 to eflapegrastim and 25 to pegfilgrastim) including 28 Koreans (14 to both eflapegrastim and pegfilgrastim) were enrolled. The primary endpoint, DSN in cycle 1 in the eflapegrastim arm was non-inferior to the pegfilgrastim arm in Koreans and Asians. The DSN difference between the eflapegrastim and pegfilgrastim arms was consistent across populations: –0.120 days (95% confidence interval [CI], –0.227 to –0.016), –0.288 (95% CI, –0.714 to 0.143), and –0.267 (95% CI, –0.697 to 0.110) for pooled population, Koreans and Asians, respectively. There were few treatment-related adverse events that caused discontinuation of eflapegrastim (1.9%) or pegfilgrastim (1.5%) in total and no notable trends or differences across patient populations. @*Conclusion@#This study may suggest that eflapegrastim showed non-inferior efficacy and similar safety compared to pegfilgrastim in Koreans and Asians, consistently with those of pooled population.
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Hormone receptor–positive (HR+) disease is the most frequently diagnosed subtype of breast cancer. Among tumor subtypes, natural course of HR+ breast cancer is indolent with favorable prognosis compared to other subtypes such as human epidermal growth factor protein 2–positive disease and triple-negative disease. HR+ tumors are dependent on steroid hormone signaling and endocrine therapy is the main treatment option. Recently, the discovery of cyclin-dependent kinase 4/6 inhibitors and their synergistic effects with endocrine therapy has dramatically improved treatment outcome of advanced HR+ breast cancer. The demonstrated efficacy of additional nonhormonal agents, such as targeted therapy against mammalian target of rapamycin and phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase signaling, poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase inhibitors, antibody-drug conjugates, and immunotherapeutic agents have further expanded the available therapeutic options. This article reviews the latest advancements in the treatment of HR+ breast cancer, and in doing so discusses not only the development of currently available treatment regimens but also emerging therapies that invite future research opportunities in the field.
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BackgroundCoronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic affected millions of individuals and patients with cancer are known to be more susceptible. Vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 have been developed and used for patients with cancer, but scarce data is available on their efficacy in patients under active anti-cancer therapies. Materials and MethodsIn this study, we semi-quantitatively measured the titers of the immunoglobulin G against the anti-spike protein subunit 1 of SARS-CoV-2 after vaccination in early breast cancer patients with concurrent chemotherapy, endocrinal or targeted non-cytotoxic treatments, and no treatments. ResultsStandard doses of COVID-19 vaccines provided sufficient immune responses in patients with early breast cancer, regardless of the type of anticancer therapies. However, the post-vaccination serum anti-spike antibody titers were significantly lower in the patients under cytotoxic chemotherapy. ConclusionOur study emphasizes the importance of the personalized risk stratification and consideration for booster doses in more vulnerable populations. Implications for PracticeIn this article, we present rare data on the homogeneous population of patients with early breast cancer under active anti-cancer treatments. The patients showed adequate serologic responses against SARS-CoV-2 virus after standard doses of vaccination without serious adverse events in concurrence with active adjuvant anti-cancer therapy. The patients receiving concurrent cytotoxic chemotherapy, however, have significantly lower serum anti-spike antibody titers than those under non-cytotoxic anti-cancer treatments or without treatments. Selection of the COVID-19 vaccines should be based on personalized risk stratification considering the use of concurrent cytotoxic chemotherapy and the patients medical circumstances. Booster doses of vaccination could be considered for the vulnerable population, such as elderly with comorbidities and the single standard dose of vaccination.
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Background@#The purpose of this longitudinal prospective cohort study was to investigate the role of chronotype in the incidence of chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN) among women with breast cancer. @*Methods@#We recruited women with breast cancer awaiting adjuvant chemotherapy, including four cycles of docetaxel. Participants reported peripheral neuropathy symptoms of numbness/ tingling at the baseline, and at 4weeks after completion of chemotherapy. Candidate psychiatric factors associated with CIPN were assessed at the baseline, using the Composite Scale of Morningness, the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. To examine the association between chronotype and CIPN, we built logistic regression models, adjusting for demographic, clinical, and other psychiatric variables. @*Results@#Among 48 participants, 29 participants developed CIPN. The morning chronotype was inversely associated with CIPN (odds ratio, 0.06; confidence interval, 0.01–0.74; P = 0.028) after adjusting for age, BMI, education, type of operation, alcohol use, smoking, sleep quality, depression, and anxiety. @*Conclusion@#Our results suggest that the morning chronotype is a protective factor against the development of CIPN in patients with breast cancer who were treated with docetaxel.
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Purpose@#The value of the genomic profiling by targeted gene-sequencing on radiation therapy response prediction was evaluated through integrated analysis including clinical information. Radiation response prediction model was constructed based on the analyzed findings. @*Materials and Methods@#Patients who had the tumor sequenced using institutional cancer panel after informed consent and received radiotherapy for the measurable disease served as the target cohort. Patients with irradiated tumor locally controlled for more than 6 months after radiotherapy were defined as the durable local control (DLC) group, otherwise, non-durable local control (NDLC) group. Significant genomic factors and domain knowledge were used to develop the Bayesian Network model to predict radiotherapy response. @*Results@#Altogether, 88 patients were collected for analysis. Of those, 41 (43.6%) and 47 (54.4%) patients were classified as the NDLC and DLC group, respectively. Somatic mutations of NOTCH2 and BCL were enriched in the NDLC group, whereas, mutations of CHEK2, MSH2, and NOTCH1 were more frequently found in the DLC group. Altered DNA repair pathway was associated with better local failure–free survival (hazard ratio, 0.40; 95% confidence interval, 0.19 to 0.86; p=0.014). Smoking somatic signature was found more frequently in the DLC group. Area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of the Bayesian network model predicting probability of 6-month local control was 0.83. @*Conclusion@#Durable radiation response was associated with alterations of DNA repair pathway and smoking somatic signature. Bayesian network model could provide helpful insights for high precision radiotherapy. However, these findings should be verified in prospective cohort for further individualization.
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Purpose@#We aimed to assess the real-world efficacy of nab-paclitaxel in metastatic breast cancer patients. @*Materials and Methods@#This is a retrospective study performed in two tertiary referral hospitals in Korea. Patients with metastatic breast cancer treated with nab-paclitaxel (Abraxane®) between March 2016 and March 2020 were enrolled. @*Results@#A total of 102 patients with metastatic breast cancer were included. Patients were heavily pre-treated with a median of four prior lines of chemotherapy (5 lines when including endocrine therapy in hormone-receptor-positive patients), and 66 patients (64.7%) were exposed to taxanes in the metastatic setting. According to St. Gallen molecular subtypes, 36 patients (35.3%) were luminal A, 28 (27.5%) were luminal B, 18 (17.7%) were human epidermal growth factor receptor 2–positive and 20 (19.6%) had triple-negative disease. Fifty patients (49.0%) were treated with a 3-weekly regimen (260 mg/m2 on day 1 every 3 weeks), and 52 (51.0%) were treated with a weekly regimen (100 mg/m2 every week). Objective response rate was 22.9%. After a median follow-up of 22.0 months, median progression-free survival (PFS) was 4.0 months (95% confidence interval [CI], 2.6 to 4.8) and median overall survival was 8.7 months (95% CI, 7.5 to 11.2). Patients treated with weekly regimen had longer PFS compared to 3-weekly regimen (5.5 vs. 2.3 months, p < 0.001). Multivariate analysis revealed the treatment regimen as an independent prognostic factor for PFS. There was no grade 3 or 4 hypersensitivity reaction. @*Conclusion@#This real-world data shows that nab-paclitaxel is a reasonable treatment option in heavily pre-treated and/or taxane-exposed metastatic breast cancer patients.
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Purpose@#YoungPEARL (KCSG-BR15-10) trial demonstrated a significant progression-free survival (PFS) benefit for premenopausal patients with hormone receptor–positive/human epidermal growth factor receptor 2–negative (HR+/HER2–) metastatic breast cancer (MBC) for palbociclib plus exemestane with ovarian function suppression compared to capecitabine. However, the number of tamoxifen-sensitive premenopausal patients was small because most recurrences occurred early during adjuvant endocrine therapy (ET), with tamoxifen being the only drug used; hence, the data for these patients were limited. Here we present a subgroup analysis according to tamoxifen sensitivity from the YoungPEARL study. Materials and Methods Patients were randomized 1:1 to receive palbociclib+ET (oral exemestane 25 mg/day for 28 days, palbociclib 125 mg/day for 21 days, plus leuprolide 3.75 mg subcutaneously every 4 weeks) or chemotherapy (oral capecitabine 1,250 mg/m2 twice daily for 14 days every 3 weeks). Tamoxifen resistance was defined as: relapse while on adjuvant tamoxifen, relapse within 12 months of completing adjuvant tamoxifen, or progression while on first-line tamoxifen within 6 months for MBC. @*Results@#In total, 184 patients were randomized and 178 were included in the modified intention-to-treat population. PFS improvement in the palbociclib+ET group was observed in tamoxifen-sensitive patients (hazard ratio, 0.38; 95% confidence interval, 0.12 to 1.19). Furthermore, palbociclib+ET prolonged median PFS compared with capecitabine in tamoxifen-sensitive (20.5 months vs. 12.6 months) and tamoxifen-resistant (20.1 months vs. 14.5 months) patients. Palbociclib+ET demonstrated a higher rate of objective response, disease control, and clinical benefit in tamoxifen-sensitive patients. Conclusion This post hoc exploratory analysis suggests that palbociclib+ET is a promising therapeutic option for premenopausal HR+/HER2– MBC patients irrespective of tamoxifen sensitivity.
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In the PALOMA-3 trial, the median progression-free survival (PFS) was longer among patients with hormone receptor-positive (HR+)/human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-negative (HER2−) advanced breast cancer (ABC) treated with palbociclib plus fulvestrant than those treated with placebo plus fulvestrant. This subgroup analysis examined the efficacy and safety of palbociclib among Korean patients enrolled in PALOMA-3 (n = 43 [palbociclib group, n = 24; placebo group, n = 19]). In both groups, > 40% of patients were pre/perimenopausal at enrollment. The median PFS was significantly prolonged with palbociclib vs. placebo (12.3 [95% confidence interval (CI), 9.1–not estimable] vs. 5.4 months [95% CI, 1.9–9.2]; hazard ratio, 0.40 [95% CI, 0.19–0.83]; one-sided p = 0.005), and the confirmed objective response was 21.1% and 11.8%, respectively (odds ratio, 2.0 [95% CI, 0.24–24.8]). Neutropenia was the most common adverse event associated with palbociclib. Overall, palbociclib plus fulvestrant was effective and generally safe among Korean patients with HR+/HER2− ABC, regardless of menopausal status.
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Purpose@#We evaluated study outcomes in patients enrolled in Asian regions in the phase III EMBRACA trial of talazoparib vs. chemotherapy. @*Materials and Methods@#Patients with human epidermal growth factor receptor 2–negative germline BRCA1/2-mutated advanced breast cancer who received prior chemotherapy were randomized 2:1 to talazoparib 1 mg/day or chemotherapy (physician’s choice). Primary endpoint was progression-free survival (PFS) per independent central review in the intent-to-treat (ITT) population. This post-hoc analysis evaluated efficacy/safety endpoints in the ITT population of patients enrolled in Asian regions. @*Results@#Thirty-three patients were enrolled at Asian sites (talazoparib, n=23; chemotherapy, n=10). Baseline characteristics were generally comparable with the overall EMBRACA population. In Asian patients, median PFS was 9.0 months (95% confidence interval [CI] 3.0, 15.2) for talazoparib and 7.1 months (95% CI, 1.2, not reached) for chemotherapy (hazard ratio [HR] 0.74 [95% CI, 0.22, 2.44]). Objective response rate was numerically higher for talazoparib vs. chemotherapy (62.5% [95% CI, 35.4, 84.8] vs. 25.0% [95% CI, 3.2, 65.1]). Median overall survival was 20.7 months (95% CI, 9.4, 40.1) versus 21.2 months (95% CI, 2.7, 35.0) months (HR, 1.41 [95% CI, 0.49, 4.05]). In Asian patients, fewer grade 3/4 adverse events (AEs), serious AEs (SAEs), grade 3/4 SAEs, and AEs resulting in dose reduction/discontinuation occurred with talazoparib than chemotherapy; for talazoparib, the frequency of these events was lower in Asian patients versus overall EMBRACA population. @*Conclusion@#In this subgroup analysis, talazoparib numerically improved efficacy versus chemotherapy and was generally well tolerated in Asian patients, with fewer grade 3/4 TEAEs, SAEs, and TEAEs leading to dose modification vs. the overall EMBRACA population.
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Purpose@#Despite curative resection, the 5-year survival for patients with resectable pancreatic cancer is less than 20%. Recurrence occurs both locally and at distant sites and effective multimodality adjuvant treatment is needed. @*Materials and Methods@#Patients with curatively resected stage IB-IIB pancreatic adenocarcinoma were eligible. Treatment consisted of chemotherapy with gemcitabine 1,000 mg/m2 on days 1 and 8 and cisplatin 60 mg/m2 on day 1 every 3 weeks for two cycles, followed by chemoradiotherapy (50.4 Gy/28 fx) with weekly gemcitabine (300 mg/m2/wk), and then gemcitabine 1,000 mg/m2 on days 1 and 8 every 3 weeks for four cycles. The primary endpoint was 1-year disease-free survival rate. The secondary endpoints were disease-free survival, overall survival, and safety. @*Results@#Seventy-four patients were enrolled. One-year disease-free survival rate was 57.9%. Median disease-free and overall survival were 15.0 months (95% confidence interval [CI], 11.6 to 18.4) and 33.0 months (95% CI, 21.8 to 44.2), respectively. At the median follow-up of 32 months, 57 patients (77.0%) had recurrence including 11 patients whose recurrence was during the adjuvant treatment. Most of the recurrences were systemic (52 patients). Stage at the time of diagnosis (70.0% in IIA, 51.2% in IIB, p=0.006) were significantly related with 1-year disease-free survival rate. Toxicities were generally tolerable, with 53 events of grade 3 or 4 hematologic toxicity and four patients with febrile neutropenia. @*Conclusion@#Adjuvant gemcitabine and cisplatin chemotherapy followed by chemoradiotherapy with gemcitabine and maintenance gemcitabine showed efficacy and good tolerability in curatively resected pancreatic cancer.
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Purpose@#YoungPEARL (KCSG-BR15-10) trial demonstrated a significant progression-free survival (PFS) benefit for premenopausal patients with hormone receptor–positive/human epidermal growth factor receptor 2–negative (HR+/HER2–) metastatic breast cancer (MBC) for palbociclib plus exemestane with ovarian function suppression compared to capecitabine. However, the number of tamoxifen-sensitive premenopausal patients was small because most recurrences occurred early during adjuvant endocrine therapy (ET), with tamoxifen being the only drug used; hence, the data for these patients were limited. Here we present a subgroup analysis according to tamoxifen sensitivity from the YoungPEARL study. Materials and Methods Patients were randomized 1:1 to receive palbociclib+ET (oral exemestane 25 mg/day for 28 days, palbociclib 125 mg/day for 21 days, plus leuprolide 3.75 mg subcutaneously every 4 weeks) or chemotherapy (oral capecitabine 1,250 mg/m2 twice daily for 14 days every 3 weeks). Tamoxifen resistance was defined as: relapse while on adjuvant tamoxifen, relapse within 12 months of completing adjuvant tamoxifen, or progression while on first-line tamoxifen within 6 months for MBC. @*Results@#In total, 184 patients were randomized and 178 were included in the modified intention-to-treat population. PFS improvement in the palbociclib+ET group was observed in tamoxifen-sensitive patients (hazard ratio, 0.38; 95% confidence interval, 0.12 to 1.19). Furthermore, palbociclib+ET prolonged median PFS compared with capecitabine in tamoxifen-sensitive (20.5 months vs. 12.6 months) and tamoxifen-resistant (20.1 months vs. 14.5 months) patients. Palbociclib+ET demonstrated a higher rate of objective response, disease control, and clinical benefit in tamoxifen-sensitive patients. Conclusion This post hoc exploratory analysis suggests that palbociclib+ET is a promising therapeutic option for premenopausal HR+/HER2– MBC patients irrespective of tamoxifen sensitivity.
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In the PALOMA-3 trial, the median progression-free survival (PFS) was longer among patients with hormone receptor-positive (HR+)/human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-negative (HER2−) advanced breast cancer (ABC) treated with palbociclib plus fulvestrant than those treated with placebo plus fulvestrant. This subgroup analysis examined the efficacy and safety of palbociclib among Korean patients enrolled in PALOMA-3 (n = 43 [palbociclib group, n = 24; placebo group, n = 19]). In both groups, > 40% of patients were pre/perimenopausal at enrollment. The median PFS was significantly prolonged with palbociclib vs. placebo (12.3 [95% confidence interval (CI), 9.1–not estimable] vs. 5.4 months [95% CI, 1.9–9.2]; hazard ratio, 0.40 [95% CI, 0.19–0.83]; one-sided p = 0.005), and the confirmed objective response was 21.1% and 11.8%, respectively (odds ratio, 2.0 [95% CI, 0.24–24.8]). Neutropenia was the most common adverse event associated with palbociclib. Overall, palbociclib plus fulvestrant was effective and generally safe among Korean patients with HR+/HER2− ABC, regardless of menopausal status.
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Purpose@#This study investigated the association of insulin, metformin, and statin use with survival and whether the association was modified by the hormone receptor status of the tumor in patients with breast cancer. @*Materials and Methods@#We studied 7,452 patients who had undergone surgery for breast cancer at Seoul National University Hospital from 2008 to 2015 using the nationwide claims database. Exposure was defined as a recorded prescription of each drug within 12 months before the diagnosis of breast cancer. @*Results@#Patients with prior insulin or statin use were more likely to be older than 50 years at diagnosis and had a higher comorbidity index than those without it (p < 0.01 for both). The hazard ratio (HR) for death with insulin use was 5.7 (p < 0.01), and the effect was attenuated with both insulin and metformin exposure with an HR of 1.2 (p=0.60). In the subgroup analyses, a heightened risk of death with insulin was further prominent with an HR of 17.9 (p < 0.01) and was offset by co-administration of metformin with an HR of 1.3 (p=0.67) in patients with estrogen receptor (ER)–negative breast cancer. Statin use was associated with increased overall mortality only in patients with ER-positive breast cancer with HR for death of 1.5 (p=0.05). @*Conclusion@#Insulin or statin use before the diagnosis of breast cancer was associated with an increase in all-cause mortality. Subsequent analyses suggested that metformin or statin use may have been protective in patients with ER-negative disease, which warrants further studies.
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Purpose@#Recent studies revealed the BRCA1 c.5339T>C, p.Leu1780Pro variant (L1780P) is highly suggested as a likely pathogenic. The aim of this study was to evaluate clinicopathologic features of L1780P with breast cancer (BC) using multicenter data from Korea to reinforce the evidence as a pathogenic mutation and to compare L1780P and other BRCA1/2mutations using Korean Hereditary Breast Cancer (KOHBRA) study data. @*Materials and Methods@#The data of 54 BC patients with L1780P variant from 10 institutions were collected and the clinicopathologic characteristics of the patients were reviewed. The hereditary breast and/or ovarian cancer–related characteristics of the L1780P variant were compared to those of BC patients in the KOHBRA study. @*Results@#The median age of all patients was 38 years, and 75.9% of cases showed triple-negative breast cancer. Comparison of cases with L1780P to carriers from the KOHBRA study revealed that the L1780P patients group was more likely to have family history (FHx) of ovarian cancer (OC) (24.1% vs. 19.6% vs. 11.2%, p < 0.001 and p=0.001) and a personal history of OC (16.7% vs. 2.9% vs. 1.3%, p=0.003 and p=0.001) without significant difference in FHx of BC and bilateral BC. The cumulative risk of contralateral BC at 10 years after diagnosis was 31.9%, while the cumulative risk of OC at 50 years of age was 20.0%. Patients with L1780P showed similar features with BRCA1 carriers and showed higher penetrance of OC than patients with other BRCA1 mutations. @*Conclusion@#L1780P should be considered as a pathogenic mutation. Risk-reducing salpingo-oophorectomy is highly recommended for women with L1780P.
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Purpose@#Microsatellite instability (MSI) status may affect the efficacy of adjuvant chemotherapy in gastric cancer. In this study, the clinical characteristics of MSI-high (MSI-H) gastric cancer and the predictive value of MSI-H for adjuvant chemotherapy in large cohorts of gastric cancer patients were evaluated. Material and MethodsThis study consisted of two cohorts. Cohort 1 included gastric cancer patients who received curative resection with pathologic stage IB-IIIC. Cohort 2 included patients with MSI-H gastric cancer who received curative resection with pathologic stage II/III. MSI was examined using two mononucleotide markers and three dinucleotide markers. @*Results@#Of 359 patients (cohort 1), 41 patients (11.4%) had MSI-H. MSI-H tumors were more frequently identified in older patients (p < 0.001), other histology than poorly cohesive, signet ring cell type (p=0.005), intestinal type (p=0.028), lower third tumor location (p=0.005), and absent perineural invasion (p=0.027). MSI-H status has a tendency of better disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) in multivariable analyses (hazard ratio [HR], 0.4; p=0.059 and HR, 0.4; p=0.063, respectively). In the analysis of 162 MSI-H patients (cohort 2), adjuvant chemotherapy showed a significant benefit with respect to longer DFS and OS (p=0.047 and p=0.043, respectively). In multivariable analysis, adjuvant chemotherapy improved DFS (HR, 0.4; p=0.040). @*Conclusion@#MSI-H gastric cancer had distinct clinicopathologic findings. Even in MSI-H gastric cancer of retrospective cohort, adjuvant chemotherapy could show a survival benefit, which was in contrast to previous prospective studies and should be investigated in a further prospective trial.
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Metastatic disease involving the thyroid gland is uncommon. Thyroid metastases has been previously described from several primary cancers of lung, breast, and kidney. Because of the lower incidence and ambiguous clinical significance, it is not easy to consider thyroid metastasis and decide the optimal time for performing diagnostic examination. Here, we reported two cases of metastatic diseases of thyroid in patients who had underlying Hashimoto’s thyroiditis: a 39-year-old woman who had thyroid metastasis of breast cancer with underlying Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, and a 44-year-old woman with metastatic lung cancer.
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Purpose@#Endocrine therapy is a standard treatment for hormone receptor-positive breast cancer, which accounts for 60%–75% of all breast cancer. Hormone receptor positivity is a prognostic and predictive biomarker in breast cancer. Approximately 50%–80% of breast cancer is also positive for androgen receptor (AR), but the prognostic and predictive value of AR expression in breast cancer is controversial. Here, we investigated AR expression and its prognostic value in patients with surgically resected breast cancer in Korea. @*Methods@#We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of patients who had surgically resected breast cancer to collect AR expression data and other clinicopathological data. The optimal cut-off for AR positivity was determined using a receiver operating characteristic curve analysis. @*Results@#We reviewed 957 patients with surgically resected breast cancer from June 2012 to April 2013. The median follow-up was 62 months, and relapse events occurred in 101 (10.6%) patients. Unlike the cut-off value of 1% or 10% in previous reports, 35% was determined to be best for predicting relapse-free survival (RFS) in this study. At the cut-off value of 35%, 654 (68.4%) patients were AR-positive. AR expression was more prevalent in luminal A (87.6%) and luminal B (73.1%) types than in human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-positive (56.2%) or triple-negative (20.6%) types. AR expression of ≥ 35% was significantly related to longer RFS in a multivariate analysis (hazard ratio, 0.430; 95% confidence interval, 0.260–0.709; p = 0.001). @*Conclusion@#We propose a cut-off value of 35% to best predict RFS in patients with surgically resected breast cancer. AR expression was positive in 68.4% of patients, and AR positivity was found to be an independent prognostic factor for longer RFS.
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Purpose@#This study was performed to investigate the effect of the interval between the start of gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonist (GnRHa) and the start of chemotherapy on ovarian protection in patients with breast cancer. @*Methods@#This was a prospective observational cohort study that included 136 patients with breast cancer below 40 years who received GnRHa during chemotherapy for fertility preservation. Plasma anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) levels were measured before chemotherapy (baseline) and after chemotherapy. Subjects were divided into 3 groups according to the interval between the start of GnRHa and the start of chemotherapy for analysis: 1–6 days, 7–13 days, and ≥ 14 days. The ratio of the post-chemotherapy AMH value to the baseline AMH (pcAMH) at each time point were compared among the 3 groups.Ranked analysis of covariance was used for statistical analysis, adjusted for age, body mass index (BMI), and the existence of polycystic ovaries (PCOs). In addition, recovery of ovarian function (AMH ≥ 1 ng/mL) at 12 months was evaluated. @*Results@#The median age of the patients was 32 years. There was no difference in the baseline AMH levels among the 3 groups (mean ± standard error: 5.0 ± 0.4 ng/mL [1–6 days], 5.3 ± 0.7 ng/mL [7–13 days], and 8.1 ± 1.3 ng/mL [≥ 14 days]; p = 0.250). The pcAMH at 3, 6, 12, 24, and 36 months were not significantly different among the 3 groups (p-values were 0.332, 0.732, 0.830, 0.148, and 0.393, respectively). In multivariate analysis, young age (p = 0.024), low BMI (p = 0.013), and the existence of PCO (p = 0.015) were predictors for AMH ≥ 1 ng/mL at 12 months. @*Conclusion@#There was no difference in the ovarian protective effect according to the difference in the timing of administration of GnRHa.
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