Pathology of Senegalese breast cancers.

INTRODUCTION: Breast cancer is among the most common cancers among women in most of Africa. However, features of histologically confirmed breast cancers presenting in specific regional populations is limited. Our study describes the clinic-pathologic features of invasive breast cancer diagnosed in women undergoing biopsy for a clinically apparent mass in Senegal, West Africa. METHODS: A prospective cohort of 522 Senegalese women presenting consecutively to Dantec Hospital (University of Dakar Tumor Institute) with a breast mass were included in the study cohort. Demographic data was collected by survey and 197 (37.7%) core needle biopsy-confirmed invasive breast cancers available for review were subsequently centrally reviewed at the University of Washington in Seattle to further to characterize the pathologic features and to perform immunohistochemistry for ER/PR and HER2. RESULTS: Seventy six (76.1%) of the 522 Senegalese women presenting for biopsy of a clinically apparent breast mass were diagnosed with invasive breast cancer. The average age of a woman with invasive cancer was 46 years old, and most (83%) presented with Stage III or IV disease. The predominant histologic subtype among the 197 biopsy-confirmed cancers was invasive ductal carcinoma (98%), with few cases of invasive lobular carcinoma (2%). Cancers were classified into four clinically relevant treatment IHC groups by combined ER/PR status and HER2 status as follows: ER-/PR-, HER2- (n=92; 46.7%), ER-/PR-, HER2+ (n=20; 10.1%), ER+/PR+, HER2- (n=76; 38.6%) and ER+/PR+, HER2+ (n=9; 4.6%). Age at time of diagnosis was similar between these four subgroups although more HER2 positive cases were pre-menopausal (p=0.05). Stage of disease at presentation differed by IHC group (p=0.008), with HER2+ cancers significantly more likely to present with stage IV disease than other IHC groups, including ER-/PR-, HER2-. There were no significant differences between groups by age group, ethnicity, place of residence or birth, or parity. CONCLUSION: Our analysis of breast cancer cases in Senegal shows a distribution of clinically relevant IHC groups like that seen in the few prior studies of breast cancer in West Africa, with higher frequencies of triple negative cancers than in most United States and European populations. Mean age at presentation, delayed presentation, and genetic/regional risk factors likely influence these differences. A better understanding of the frequencies of the pathologic features of breast cancers in the West African population may help guide future genetic studies as well as appropriate clinical management of breast cancer in these populations.

[HIV-2 infection in Senegal: virological failures and resistance to antiretroviral drugs (ARVs)]. / Infection à VIH-2 au Sénégal: échecs virologiques et résistances aux antirétroviraux (ARV).

INTRODUCTION: HIV-2, endemic in West Africa, has a natural resistance to non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTIs) which makes it difficult to treat it in developing countries. METHODS: We conducted a descriptive, longitudinal, prospective study over the period November 2005-June 2017. Virologic failure has been defined as any viral load greater than 50 copies/ml after 6 months of ARV treatment administered twice. Assays for detecting drug-resistance mutations was performed in the protease-coding region and in the reverse transcriptase-coding region. RESULTS: Data from a total of 110 patients were collected. The patients had a median age of 46 years (ranging from 18 to 67) with a sex-ratio F/M of 2.54. At inclusion, viral load could be assessed in 44% of cases with a median of 935cp/ml (ranging from 17 to 144038). Antiretroviral regimen consisted of a combination of 2 NRTIs and 1IP in 94% of cases. The median follow-up was 1200 days (ranging from 1 to 3840); 94 then 76 patients completed their 12-month and 24-month assessments respectively. At 24-month follow-up, 39 patients had virologic failure, reflecting a prevalence of 39% estimated at 33% at 12-month follow-up and at 11% at 24-month follow-up; NRTIs resistance was observed in 45% of patients, IP resistance in 41% of patients while multi-NRTIs resistance and multi-IP resistance in 30% of patients. CONCLUSION: Currently, there is an urgent need to make available the new therapeutic classes of ARV for second line ART for patients living with HIV-2 with therapeutic failure in resource-limited settings.