Risk for relapse and death after adjuvant chemotherapy associated with SNPs in patients with breast cancer - A retrospective study.

ABSTRACT

For the women breast cancer (BC) patients included in this retrospective study, the first line of systemic treatment in adjuvant modality for breast cancer (BC) after surgery was fluorouracil, epirubicin and cyclophosphamide (FEC). The aim of our investigation was to analyze the prognostic biomarkers for relapse and death of patients eight to ten years after chemotherapy in association with nausea and vomiting. METHOD: This retrospective study included 114 patients treated between 2010 and 2013. Blood samples for Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP) analysis before the chemotherapy treatment were collected. The medical records were used to determine relapses and death. RESULTS: Sixteen percent relapsed and 9 % died during the follow-up period. SNPs located in the genes ESR and CASP9 were associated with both relapse and death. CONCLUSIONS: Relapse and death were at a relative moderate level and consistent with other studies. Two SNPs in the Estrogen hormone receptor gene ESR1 and the apoptosis execution gene Caspases 9 (Casp9) were found to be associated with a higher risk of relapse and death. These findings suggest the possible value of blood biomarkers in the selection of individual treatments in the clinical setting.