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01-04-2011 | Clinical trial

Tumor angiogenesis as prognostic and predictive marker for chemotherapy dose-intensification efficacy in high-risk breast cancer patients within the WSG AM-01 trial

Authors: Oleg Gluz, Peter Wild, Cornelia Liedtke, Ronald Kates, Heiko Mendrik, Elisabeth Ehm, Verena Artinger, Raihanatou Diallo-Danebrock, Evelyn Ting, Svjetlana Mohrmann, Christopher Poremba, Nadia Harbeck, Ulrike Nitz, Arndt Hartmann, Andreas Gaumann

Published in: Breast Cancer Research and Treatment | Issue 3/2011

Abstract

The goal of this analysis was to characterize the survival impact of angiogenesis in the patients with high-risk breast cancer, particularly the predictive impact on benefit from dose intensification of adjuvant chemotherapy. Formalin-fixed tissue sample of 152 patients treated as part of the WSG AM-01 trial by either high-dose or conventional dose-dense chemotherapy were analyzed. Angiogenic activity was measured using microvessel count and vascular surface area (VSA) determined by the expression of vascular markers CD31 (n = 128) and CD105/endoglin (n = 130). Protein molecular breast cancer subclasses were analyzed by k-means clustering (k = 5). The univariate impact of factors on event-free (EFS) and overall survival (OS) was tested by log-rank statistics and quantified by univariate Cox analysis. Multivariate survival analysis included factors significant in univariate analysis, as well as interactions was performed for EFS. Both VSA/CD31 (P = 0.004) and VSA/CD105 (P = 0.003) were significantly higher among cases with increased Ki-67. A significant association with molecular subtypes was also found for VSA/CD105: in patients with basal-like/Her-2 subtypes, mean was 1.72 versus 1.24 in patients with other subtypes (P < 0.001). Elevated VSA/CD105 was associated with both significantly decreased EFS (P = 0.01) and OS (P = 0.02). Increased tumor size and positive Her-2 status were also prognostic for poorer EFS. The benefit of dose intensification for EFS was seen in those low-VSA/CD105 patients. The result was evident both in univariate and in multivariate survival analysis including all factors that were significant at the univariate level. Expression of angiogenesis markers may mirror or confer resistance to chemotherapy in the patients with breast cancer, particularly within the context of dose intensified chemotherapy. Highly angiogenic tumors may not derive sufficient benefit from dose intensification of chemotherapy alone. Our findings may serve as a rationale for further exploring anti-angiogenic treatment options in the patients with such highly angiogenic tumor subtypes.

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Title: Tumor angiogenesis as prognostic and predictive marker for chemotherapy dose-intensification efficacy in high-risk breast cancer patients within the WSG AM-01 trial
Authors: Oleg Gluz
Peter Wild
Cornelia Liedtke
Ronald Kates
Heiko Mendrik
Elisabeth Ehm
Verena Artinger
Raihanatou Diallo-Danebrock
Evelyn Ting
Svjetlana Mohrmann
Christopher Poremba
Nadia Harbeck
Ulrike Nitz
Arndt Hartmann
Andreas Gaumann
Publication date: 01-04-2011
Publisher: Springer US
Published in: Breast Cancer Research and Treatment / Issue 3/2011
Print ISSN: 0167-6806
Electronic ISSN: 1573-7217
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10549-011-1377-6

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