Skip to main content
Key Specialties
Cardiology Diabetology Endocrinology Gastroenterology Geriatrics and Gerontology Gynecology and Obstetrics Hematology Infectious Disease Internal Medicine Nephrology Neurology Oncology Pediatrics Respiratory Medicine Rheumatology Surgery
Congress Coverage
2024 ACC Congress 2023 ESMO Congress 2023 EASD Congress 2023 ERS Congress 2023 ESC Congress 2023 EHA Congress 2023 ASCO Annual Meeting
Clinical Collections
Advances in Alzheimer’s

Keynote webinar | Spotlight on sleep in brain health

LIVE: Thursday 2nd May 2024, 18:00-19:30 (CEST)

Quality sleep is essential for health. But what happens to our brains when sleep patterns are disturbed? Join our experts to explore the interplay between sleep disruption and neurological diseases, and the questions that you need to be asking your patients to help you prevent the harmful effects of sleep deprivation.
ADVANCED SEARCH
Log in
Top
Breast Cancer Research
Published in: Breast Cancer Research 1/2015

Open Access 01-12-2015 | Research article

Circulating tumor cells in newly diagnosed inflammatory breast cancer

Authors: Michal Mego, Antonio Giordano, Ugo De Giorgi, Hiroko Masuda, Limin Hsu, Mario Giuliano, Tamer M Fouad, Shaheenah Dawood, Naoto T Ueno, Vicente Valero, Eleni Andreopoulou, Ricardo H Alvarez, Wendy A Woodward, Gabriel N Hortobagyi, Massimo Cristofanilli, James M Reuben

Published in: Breast Cancer Research | Issue 1/2015

Login to get access

Abstract

Introduction

Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are an independent prognostic factor for progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) in patients with metastatic breast cancer. Inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) is one of the most aggressive forms of breast cancer. The prognostic value of a CTC count in newly diagnosed IBC has not been established. The aim of this study was to assess the prognostic value of a baseline CTC count in patients with newly diagnosed IBC.

Methods

This retrospective study included 147 patients with newly diagnosed IBC (77 with locally advanced and 70 with metastatic IBC) treated with neoadjuvant therapy or first-line chemotherapy during the period from January 2004 through December 2012 at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. CTCs were detected and enumerated by using the CellSearch system before patients were started with chemotherapy.

Results

The proportion of patients with ≥1 CTC was lower among patients with stage III than among patients with metastatic IBC (54.5% versus 84.3%; P = 0.0002); the proportion of patients with ≥5 CTCs was also lower for stage III than for metastatic IBC (19.5% versus 47.1%; P = 0.0004). Patients with fewer than five CTCs had significantly better progression-free survival (PFS) (hazard ratio (HR) = 0.60; P = 0.02) and overall survival (HR = 0.59; P = 0.03) than patients with five or more CTCs. Among patients with stage III IBC, there was a nonsignificant difference in PFS (HR = 0.66; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.31 to 1.39; P = 0.29) and OS (HR = 0.54; 95% CI, 0.24 to 1.26; P = 0.48) in patients with no CTCs compared with patients with one or more CTCs. In multivariate analysis, CTC was prognostic for PFS and OS independent of clinical stage.

Conclusions

CTCs can be detected in a large proportion of patients with newly diagnosed IBC and are a strong predictor of worse prognosis in patients with newly diagnosed IBC.
Literature
1.
Walshe J, Swain S. Clinical aspects of inflammatory breast cancer. Breast Dis. 2005–2006;22:35–44.
2.
Ueno NT, Buzdar AU, Singletary SE, Ames FC, McNeese MD, Holmes FA, et al. Combined-modality treatment of inflammatory breast carcinoma: twenty years of experience at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. Cancer Chemother Pharmacol. 1997;40:321–9.CrossRefPubMed
3.
Masuda H, Brewer TM, Liu DD, Iwamoto T, Shen Y, Hsu L, et al. Long-term treatment efficacy in primary inflammatory breast cancer by hormonal receptor- and HER2-defined subtypes. Ann Oncol. 2014;25:384–91.CrossRefPubMed
4.
Fouad TM, Kogawa T, Liu DD, Shen Y, Masuda H, El-Zein R, et al. Survival differences between patients with metastatic inflammatory and non-inflammatory breast cancer. Cancer Res. 2013;73:Abstract nr P6-12-02.CrossRef
5.
Cristofanilli M, Buzdar AU, Hortobagyi GN. Update on the management of inflammatory breast cancer. Oncologist. 2003;8:141–8.CrossRefPubMed
6.
Cristofanilli M, Valero V, Buzdar AU, Kau SW, Broglio KR, Gonzalez-Angulo AM, et al. Inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) and patterns of recurrence: understanding the biology of a unique disease. Cancer. 2007;110:1436–44.CrossRefPubMed
7.
Robertson FM, Bondy M, Yang W, Yamauchi H, Wiggins S, Kamrudin S, et al. Inflammatory breast cancer: the disease, the biology, the treatment. CA Cancer J Clin. 2010;60:351–75.CrossRefPubMed
8.
Kleer C, Van Golen K, Merajver S. Molecular biology of breast cancer metastasis: inflammatory breast cancer: clinical syndrome and molecular determinants. Breast Cancer Res. 2000;2:423–9.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
9.
Wu M, Merajver S. Molecular biology of inflammatory breast cancer: applications to diagnosis, prognosis, and therapy. Breast Dis. 2005–2006;22:25–34.
10.
Van der Auwera I, Van Laere SJ, Van den Eynden GG, Benoy I, van Dam P, Colpaert CG, et al. Increased angiogenesis and lymphangiogenesis in inflammatory versus noninflammatory breast cancer by real-time reverse transcriptase-PCR gene expression quantification. Clin Cancer Res. 2004;10:7965–71.CrossRefPubMed
11.
Parton M, Dowsett M, Ashley S, Hills M, Lowe F, Smith IE. High incidence of HER2 positivity in inflammatory breast cancer. Breast. 2004;13:97–103.CrossRefPubMed
12.
Resetkova E, Gonzalez-Angulo AM, Sneige N, Mcdonnell TJ, Buzdar AU, Kau SW, et al. Prognostic value of p53, MDM-2, and MUC-1 for patients with inflammatory breast carcinoma. Cancer. 2004;101:913–7.CrossRefPubMed
13.
van Golen KL, Wu ZF, Qiao XT, Bao LW, Merajver SD. RhoC GTPase, a novel transforming oncogene for human mammary epithelial cells that partially recapitulates the inflammatory breast cancer phenotype. Cancer Res. 2000;60:5832–8.PubMed
14.
Yamauchi H, Cristofanilli M, Nakamura S, Hortobagyi GN, Ueno NT. Molecular targets for treatment of inflammatory breast cancer. Nat Rev Clin Oncol. 2009;6:387–94.CrossRefPubMed
15.
Woodward WA, Krishnamurthy S, Yamauchi H, El-Zein R, Ogura D, Kitadai E, et al. Genomic and expression analysis of microdissected inflammatory breast cancer. Breast Cancer Res Treat. 2013;138:761–72.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
16.
Colpaert CG, Vermeulen PB, Benoy I, Soubry A, van Roy F, van Beest P, et al. Inflammatory breast cancer shows angiogenesis with high endothelial proliferation rate and strong E-cadherin expression. Br J Cancer. 2003;88:718–25.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
17.
Xiao Y, Ye Y, Yearsley K, Jones S, Barsky SH. The lymphovascular embolus of inflammatory breast cancer expresses a stem cell-like phenotype. Am J Pathol. 2008;173:561–74.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
18.
Cristofanilli M, Budd GT, Ellis MJ, Stopeck A, Matera J, Miller MC, et al. Circulating tumor cells, disease progression, and survival in metastatic breast cancer. N Engl J Med. 2004;351:781–91.CrossRefPubMed
19.
Dawood S, Broglio K, Valero V, Reuben J, Handy B, Islam R, et al. Circulating tumor cells in metastatic breast cancer: from prognostic stratification to modification of the staging system? Cancer. 2008;113:2422–30.CrossRefPubMed
20.
Giuliano M, Giordano A, Jackson S, Hess KR, De Giorgi U, Mego M, et al. Circulating tumor cells as prognostic and predictive markers in metastatic breast cancer patients receiving first-line systemic treatment. Breast Cancer Res. 2011;13:R67.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
21.
De Giorgi U, Valero V, Rohren E, Dawood S, Ueno NT, Miller MC, et al. Circulating tumor cells and [18 F]fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography for outcome prediction in metastatic breast cancer. J Clin Oncol. 2009;27:3303–11.CrossRefPubMed
22.
Cristofanilli M, Broglio KR, Guarneri V, Jackson S, Fritsche HA, Islam R, et al. Circulating tumor cells in metastatic breast cancer: biologic staging beyond tumor burden. Clin Breast Cancer. 2007;7:471–9.CrossRefPubMed
23.
Reuben JM, Lee BN, Li C, Gao H, Broglio KR, Valero V, et al. Circulating tumor cells and biomarkers: implications for personalized targeted treatments for metastatic breast cancer. Breast J. 2010;16:327–30.CrossRefPubMed
24.
Mego M, De Giorgi U, Hsu L, Ueno NT, Valero V, Jackson S, et al. Circulating tumor cells in metastatic inflammatory breast cancer. Ann Oncol. 2009;20:1824–8.CrossRefPubMed
25.
Brewer TM, Masuda H, Liu DD, Shen Y, Liu P, Iwamoto T, et al. Statin use in primary inflammatory breast cancer: a cohort study. Br J Cancer. 2013;109:318–24.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
26.
Greene FL, Page DL, Fleming ID, Fritz AG, Balch CHM, Haller DG, et al. AJCC Cancer Staging Handbook. 6th ed. New York, NY: Springer; 2002.CrossRef
27.
Dawood S, Merajver SD, Viens P, Vermeulen PB, Swain SM, Buchholz TA, et al. International expert panel on inflammatory breast cancer: consensus statement for standardized diagnosis and treatment. Ann Oncol. 2011;22:515–23.CrossRefPubMed
28.
Singletary SE, Allred C, Ashley P, Bassett LW, Berry D, Bland KI, et al. Staging system for breast cancer: revisions for the 6th edition of the AJCC Cancer Staging Manual. Surg Clin North Am. 2003;83:803–19.CrossRefPubMed
29.
Bidard FC, Mathiot C, Delaloge S, Brain E, Giachetti S, de Cremoux P, et al. Single circulating tumor cell detection and overall survival in nonmetastatic breast cancer. Ann Oncol. 2010;21:729–33.CrossRefPubMed
30.
Lang JE, Mosalpuria K, Cristofanilli M, Krishnamurthy S, Reuben J, Singh B, et al. HER2 status predicts the presence of circulating tumor cells in patients with operable breast cancer. Breast Cancer Res Treat. 2009;113:501–17.CrossRefPubMed
31.
Bidard FC, Peeters DJ, Fehm T, Nolé F, Gisbert-Criado R, Mavroudis D, et al. Clinical validity of circulating tumour cells in patients with metastatic breast cancer: a pooled analysis of individual patient data. Lancet Oncol. 2014;15:406–14.CrossRefPubMed
32.
Pierga JY, Bidard FC, Mathiot C, Brain E, Delaloge S, Giachetti S, et al. Circulating tumor cell detection predicts early metastatic relapse after neoadjuvant chemotherapy in large operable and locally advanced breast cancer in a phase II randomized trial. Clin Cancer Res. 2008;14:7004–10.CrossRefPubMed
33.
Riethdorf S, Müller V, Zhang L, Rau T, Loibl S, Komor M, et al. Detection and HER2 expression of circulating tumor cells: prospective monitoring in breast cancer patients treated in the neoadjuvant GeparQuattro trial. Clin Cancer Res. 2010;16:2634–45.CrossRefPubMed
34.
Lucci A, Hall CS, Lodhi AK, Bhattacharyya A, Anderson AE, Xiao L, et al. Circulating tumour cells in non-metastatic breast cancer: a prospective study. Lancet Oncol. 2012;13:688–95.CrossRefPubMed
35.
Rack B, Schindlbeck C, Jückstock J, Andergassen U, Hepp P, Zwingers T, et al. Circulating tumor cells predict survival in early average-to-high risk breast cancer patients. J Natl Cancer Inst. 2014;106. doi:10.1093/jnci/dju066.
36.
Pierga JY, Petit T, Delozier T, Ferrero JM, Campone M, Gligorov J, et al. Neoadjuvant bevacizumab, trastuzumab, and chemotherapy for primary inflammatory HER2-positive breast cancer (BEVERLY-2): an open-label, single-arm phase 2 study. Lancet Oncol. 2012;13:375–84.CrossRefPubMed
37.
Bjarnadottir O, Romero Q, Bendahl PO, Jirström K, Rydén L, Loman N, et al. Targeting HMG-CoA reductase with statins in a window-of-opportunity breast cancer trial. Breast Cancer Res Treat. 2013;138:499–508.CrossRefPubMed
38.
Undela K, Srikanth V, Bansal D. Statin use and risk of breast cancer: a meta-analysis of observational studies. Breast Cancer Res Treat. 2012;135:261–9.CrossRefPubMed
Metadata
Title
Circulating tumor cells in newly diagnosed inflammatory breast cancer
Authors
Michal Mego
Antonio Giordano
Ugo De Giorgi
Hiroko Masuda
Limin Hsu
Mario Giuliano
Tamer M Fouad
Shaheenah Dawood
Naoto T Ueno
Vicente Valero
Eleni Andreopoulou
Ricardo H Alvarez
Wendy A Woodward
Gabriel N Hortobagyi
Massimo Cristofanilli
James M Reuben
Publication date
01-12-2015
Publisher
BioMed Central
Published in
Breast Cancer Research / Issue 1/2015
Electronic ISSN: 1465-542X
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s13058-014-0507-6

Other articles of this Issue 1/2015

Breast Cancer Research 1/2015 Go to the issue

Research article

The relationship between quantitative human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 gene expression by the 21-gene reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction assay and adjuvant trastuzumab benefit in Alliance N9831

Research article

A case–control analysis of oral contraceptive use and breast cancer subtypes in the African American Breast Cancer Epidemiology and Risk Consortium

Editorial

Targeting PTEN-defined breast cancers with a one-two punch

Research article

Mammographic density adds accuracy to both the Tyrer-Cuzick and Gail breast cancer risk models in a prospective UK screening cohort

Research article

FOXF2 deficiency promotes epithelial-mesenchymal transition and metastasis of basal-like breast cancer

Research article

Long-term hazard of recurrence in HER2+ breast cancer patients untreated with anti-HER2 therapy
Webinar | 19-02-2024 | 17:30 (CET)

Keynote webinar | Spotlight on antibody–drug conjugates in cancer

Watch now

Antibody–drug conjugates (ADCs) are novel agents that have shown promise across multiple tumor types. Explore the current landscape of ADCs in breast and lung cancer with our experts, and gain insights into the mechanism of action, key clinical trials data, existing challenges, and future directions.

Dr. Véronique Diéras
Prof. Fabrice Barlesi
Developed by: Springer Medicine
Image Credits