Randomized trial comparing six versus three cycles of epirubicin-based adjuvant chemotherapy in premenopausal, node-positive breast cancer patients: 10-year follow-up results of the French Adjuvant Study Group 01 trial.

Purpose: To evaluate the duration and dose intensity of epirubicin-based regimens in premenopausal patients with lymph node-positive breast cancer.

Patients And Methods: Between 1986 and 1990, 621 patients with operable breast cancer were randomly assigned to receive fluorouracil (Roche SA, Basel, Switzerland) 500 mg/m2, epirubicin (Pharmacia SA, Milan, Italy) 50 mg/m2, and cyclophosphamide (Asta Medica AG, Frankfurt, Germany) 500 mg/m2 every 21 days (FEC 50) for six cycles (6 FEC 50); FEC 50 for three cycles (3 FEC 50); or the same regimen with epirubicin 75 mg/m2 (FEC 75) for three cycles (3 FEC 75). All patients in the three arms received chest wall irradiation at the end of the third cycle.

Epidermal growth factor receptors in breast cancer: comparison of radioligand and immunocytochemical assays.

Epidermal growth factor receptors (EGFR) are part of second generation biological factors that clinicians caring for breast cancer patients wish to evaluate for their prognostic value. This aim requires the standardization of methods: the radioligand assay (RLA) for the quantification of EGF binding sites was performed on membrane pellets from 261 breast cancer samples (ligand binding and hydroxylapatite separation as recommended by the EORTC Receptor Study Group); the immunocytochemical assay (ICA) for the staining of EGFR antigenic sites was performed on fine needle aspiration (FNA) cytology or touch imprints from 97 surgical specimens. The percentage of EGFR positivity by RLA (specific binding higher than 1% of total radioactivity) and the EGFR positive rate by ICA (more than 5% of stained cells) were respectively 43% and 38%.

Expression of mdr1 gene in human breast primary tumors and metastases.

Expression of mdr1 gene has been evaluated in 34 tumor samples obtained from breast cancer patients who were classified according to their treatment, and clinical follow-up. No gene amplification was found. mdr1-RNA was never detected in 29 primary breast tumors including 5 samples from patients previously treated by 6 courses of 5-fluorouracil, epirubicin, cyclophosphamide (FEC).

Argyrophilic nuclear organiser region counts in locally advanced breast carcinoma treated by chemotherapy before surgery.

The value of argyrophilic nuclear organiser region (AgNOR) counts in assessing histologically the effects of combination chemotherapy given to eleven patients with locally advanced breast cancer before mastectomy was studied. AgNOR counts were significantly reduced (P less than 0.001) in the post-chemotherapy, surgically excised residual tumour specimens compared with the initial diagnostic biopsy specimens.

[Evaluation of two serum isoenzyme phosphatases as bone metastasis markers].

Serum activities of bone alkaline phosphatase (b-ALP) and of tartrate resistant acid phosphatase (tr-ACP) were evaluated in 271 cancer patients; 120 of them had bone metastases (BM) and 151 had none. Correlation coefficients, specificities, sensitivities, negative and positive predicting values were computed. They showed the important contribution that these isoenzymes can bring to the diagnosis of BM in 80 patients with prostate cancer, and to the followup of 191 patients with breast cancer.