Department of Pathology, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, 23298, USA.
Massey Cancer Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, 23298, USA.
Clin Exp Metastasis. 2021 Jun;38(3):263-277. doi: 10.1007/s10585-021-10080-4. Epub 2021 Mar 6.
Nearly all fatalities arising from breast tumors are attributable to distant metastases. Breast cancer liver metastasis (BCLM) is associated with poor prognoses, with the median survival time being 2 to 3 years. Tumor intrinsic subtype directs preferential metastasis to specific organs, with HER2-enriched tumors demonstrating the highest rates of metastasis to the liver, though all subtypes can grow in the liver. There is no singular established standard-of-care for BCLM; therapeutic selection is driven by histologic and molecular hallmarks of the primary tumor or biopsied metastasis samples. Given the poor prognosis of patients with hepatic spread, pre-clinical studies are necessary to identify and evaluate promising new treatment strategies. It is critical that these laboratory studies accurately recapitulate the BCLM disease process, standard progression, and histological attributes. In this review, we summarize the histologic and molecular characteristics of BCLM, evaluate the efficacy of existing surgical and medical treatment strategies, and discuss future approaches to preclinical study of BCLM.
几乎所有因乳腺肿瘤导致的死亡都归因于远处转移。乳腺癌肝转移（BCLM）与不良预后相关，中位生存时间为 2 至 3 年。肿瘤内在亚型指导着对特定器官的优先转移，HER2 富集型肿瘤显示出最高的肝转移率，尽管所有亚型都可以在肝脏中生长。目前尚无针对 BCLM 的单一标准治疗方法；治疗选择取决于原发肿瘤或活检转移样本的组织学和分子特征。鉴于肝转移患者的预后较差，需要进行临床前研究来确定和评估有前途的新治疗策略。这些实验室研究准确再现 BCLM 疾病过程、标准进展和组织学特征至关重要。在这篇综述中，我们总结了 BCLM 的组织学和分子特征，评估了现有手术和治疗策略的疗效，并讨论了 BCLM 临床前研究的未来方法。
