Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Tuebingen, Tuebingen, Germany.
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany.
Breast Cancer Res Treat. 2018 Jun;169(2):305-309. doi: 10.1007/s10549-018-4679-0. Epub 2018 Jan 27.
The 70-gene signature (70-GS) is a prognostic tool, grouping patients in risk groups to assess their need for adjuvant chemotherapy. Tumor cell dissemination to the bone marrow is a marker of minimal residual disease and associated with impaired survival. In this study, we aimed to evaluate whether 70-GS is associated with the presence of disseminated tumor cells (DTCs) in the bone marrow of patients with early breast cancer.
In patients with hormone receptor-positive HER2-negative early breast cancer, the 70-GS was obtained and the presence of DTCs was immunohistochemically evaluated using cytokeratin staining with the A45-B/B3 antibody.
149 patients were included into the analysis. 40 (27%) had a high-risk 70-GS and 35 (23%) had detectable DTCs in their bone marrow. 9 (22%) of the 40 patients with high-risk 70-GS and 26 (24%) of the 109 patients with a low-risk 70-GS were positive for DTCs (p = 0.863).
As both 70-GS and DTC detection are known prognostic factors but do not seem to correlate, a follow-up on a larger cohort is warranted to evaluate if a combination of the two is able to better stratify the relapse risk in early breast cancer patients.
70 基因特征（70-GS）是一种预后工具，将患者分组为风险组，以评估其是否需要辅助化疗。肿瘤细胞向骨髓扩散是微小残留病灶的标志物，与生存受损相关。在这项研究中，我们旨在评估 70-GS 是否与早期乳腺癌患者骨髓中存在播散性肿瘤细胞（DTC）相关。
在激素受体阳性 HER2 阴性的早期乳腺癌患者中，获得 70-GS，并使用 A45-B/B3 抗体的细胞角蛋白染色进行免疫组织化学评估以检测 DTC 的存在。
149 例患者纳入分析。40 例（27%）具有高风险 70-GS，35 例（23%）在骨髓中检测到 DTC。40 例高风险 70-GS 患者中有 9 例（22%）和 109 例低风险 70-GS 患者中有 26 例（24%）为 DTC 阳性（p=0.863）。
由于 70-GS 和 DTC 检测均为已知的预后因素，但似乎不相关，因此需要对更大的队列进行随访，以评估两者的组合是否能够更好地分层早期乳腺癌患者的复发风险。
