Fumagalli Caterina, Barberis Massimo
Division of Pathology, IEO, European Institute of Oncology IRCCS, 20141 Milan, Italy.
Diagnostics (Basel). 2021 Aug 27;11(9):1555. doi: 10.3390/diagnostics11091555.
Breast tumor heterogeneity is a major challenge in the clinical management of breast cancer patients. Both inter-tumor and intra-tumor heterogeneity imply that each breast cancer (BC) could have different prognosis and would benefit from specific therapy. Breast cancer is a dynamic entity, changing during tumor progression and metastatization and this poses fundamental issues to the feasibility of a personalized medicine approach. The most effective therapeutic strategy for patients with recurrent disease should be assessed evaluating biopsies obtained from metastatic sites. Furthermore, the tumor progression and the treatment response should be strictly followed and radiogenomics and liquid biopsy might be valuable tools to assess BC heterogeneity in a non-invasive way.
乳腺肿瘤异质性是乳腺癌患者临床管理中的一项重大挑战。肿瘤间和肿瘤内的异质性均表明,每例乳腺癌(BC)可能具有不同的预后,且可能从特定治疗中获益。乳腺癌是一个动态实体,在肿瘤进展和转移过程中会发生变化,这给个性化医疗方法的可行性带来了根本性问题。对于复发性疾病患者,应通过评估从转移部位获取的活检组织来确定最有效的治疗策略。此外,应密切跟踪肿瘤进展和治疗反应,放射基因组学和液体活检可能是以非侵入性方式评估BC异质性的有价值工具。