Professor of Histology, Victor Babes University of Medicine and Pharmacy Timisoara, Department of Microscopic Morphology/Histology, Angiogenesis Research Center Timisoara, Piata Eftimie Murgu 2, 300041, Timisoara, Romania.
Anticancer Res. 2014 Mar;34(3):1435-40.
Scattered studies report on controversial results concerning evaluation of primary breast tumors and their matched lymph node metastases. Aim. To investigate the molecular profile of primary breast tumors and corresponding lymph node metastases (LNM) based on estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR) and human epiderma growth factor receptor-2 (HER2 protein).
Sixty-six primary tumors and corresponding axillary lymph node metastases were evaluated by immunohistochemistry for ER, PR and HER2 protein. According to these markers, cases were stratified as Luminal A, B, HER2 subtypes and triple-negative. Results. Thirteen out of 66 cases (19.7%) exhibited different tumor cell phenotypes in nodal metastases compared to primary breast tumors. All cases with hybrid phenotype had metastases with a pure HER2 phenotype. The most frequent switching was observed from luminal A to luminal B phenotype.
The high rate of discrepancy between primary tumor and nodal metastasis phenotype imposes the need for a comparative assessment of both primary tumor and nodal metastasis before any therapeutic decision, in order to avoid recurrence and to improve patient prognosis and overall survival.
一些零散的研究报告对原发性乳腺癌肿瘤及其相应的淋巴结转移的评估结果存在争议。目的：基于雌激素受体（ER）、孕激素受体（PR）和人表皮生长因子受体-2（HER2 蛋白），探讨原发性乳腺癌肿瘤和相应的腋窝淋巴结转移（LNM）的分子特征。
对 66 例原发性肿瘤和相应的腋窝淋巴结转移进行免疫组织化学 ER、PR 和 HER2 蛋白检测。根据这些标志物，将病例分为 Luminal A、B、HER2 亚型和三阴性。结果：13 例（19.7%）与原发性乳腺癌肿瘤相比，淋巴结转移中出现不同的肿瘤细胞表型。所有具有混合表型的病例均有纯 HER2 表型的转移。最常见的转变是从 Luminal A 型到 Luminal B 型。
原发性肿瘤和淋巴结转移表型之间存在较高的差异率，这就要求在做出任何治疗决策之前，对原发性肿瘤和淋巴结转移进行比较评估，以避免复发，改善患者的预后和总体生存率。
