Hematol Oncol Stem Cell Ther
April 2023
Background: The PARP inhibitors (PARPis) olaparib and talazoparib are currently approved for the treatment of deleterious germline BRCA1/2-mutated (gBRCA+) metastatic breast cancer (MBC). These approvals were based on improvements in progression-free survival (PFS) observed in two randomized controlled trials (RCTs). Other PARPis, such as veliparib and niraparib, have also been studied.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPreviously undescribed molecular mechanisms of resistance will emerge with the increased use of cyclin-dependent kinase 4/6 inhibitors in clinical settings. To identify genomic aberrations in circulating tumor DNA associated with treatment resistance in palbociclib-treated metastatic breast cancer (MBC) patients, we collected 35 pre- and post-treatment blood samples from 16 patients with estrogen receptor-positive (ER) MBC, including 9 with inflammatory breast cancer (IBC). Circulating cell-free DNAs (cfDNAs) were isolated for sequencing using a targeted panel of 91 genes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMetastases to the gastrointestinal tract (GIT) from breast carcinoma are rare, detected in approximately <5% of all breast cancer patients. Invasive lobular carcinoma (ILC) is the most common histological type of breast cancer to metastasize to the GIT. We report a case of abdominal recurrence of ILC of the breast causing intra-abdominal contracture leading to extrinsic compression of the duodenum and periampullary biliary tree.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInflammatory breast cancer (IBC) is the most aggressive form of breast cancer. Although it is a rare subtype, IBC is responsible for roughly 10% of breast cancer deaths. In order to obtain a better understanding of the genomic landscape and intratumor heterogeneity (ITH) in IBC, we conducted whole-exome sequencing of 16 tissue samples (12 tumor and four normal samples) from six hormone-receptor-positive IBC patients, analyzed somatic mutations and copy number aberrations, and inferred subclonal structures to demonstrate ITH.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: Discordance between HER2 expression in tumor tissue (tHER2) and HER2 status on circulating tumor cells (cHER2) has been reported. It remains largely underexplored whether patients with tHER2/cHER2 can benefit from anti-HER2 targeted therapies.
Methods: cHER2 status was determined in 105 advanced-stage patients with tHER2 breast tumors.
Purpose: Patients with triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) with homologous recombination deficient tumors achieve significantly higher pathologic complete response (pCR) rates when treated with neoadjuvant platinum-based therapy. Tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL) are prognostic and predictive of chemotherapy benefit in early stage TNBC. The relationship between TILs, mutation status, and homologous recombination deficiency (HRD) status in TNBC remains unclear.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Both circulating tumour cell (CTC) and total circulating cell-free DNA (ccfDNA) predict cancer patient prognosis. However, no study has explored the prognostic value of the combined use of CTC and ccfDNA. We aimed to investigate individual and joint effects of CTC and ccfDNA on clinical outcomes of metastatic breast cancer (MBC) patients.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The bone-targeting agent zoledronic acid (ZOL) increases breast cancer survival in subsets of patients, but the underlying reasons for this protective effect are unknown. ZOL modulates the activity of osteoclasts and osteoblasts, which form hematopoietic stem cell niches, and therefore may affect hematopoietic cells that play a role in breast cancer progression.
Method: Immunocompetent and immunocompromised strains of mice commonly used for breast cancer research were injected with a single, clinically relevant dose of ZOL (100 μg/kg) or vehicle control.
Unlabelled: An unbiased genome-scale screen for unmutated genes that drive cancer growth when overexpressed identified methyl cytosine-guanine dinucleotide (CpG) binding protein 2 (MECP2) as a novel oncogene. MECP2 resides in a region of the X-chromosome that is significantly amplified across 18% of cancers, and many cancer cell lines have amplified, overexpressed MECP2 and are dependent on MECP2 expression for growth. MECP2 copy-number gain and RAS family member alterations are mutually exclusive in several cancer types.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Ovarian and triple-negative breast cancers with BRCA1 or BRCA2 loss are highly sensitive to treatment with PARP inhibitors and platinum-based cytotoxic agents and show an accumulation of genomic scars in the form of gross DNA copy number aberrations. Cancers without BRCA1 or BRCA2 loss but with accumulation of similar genomic scars also show increased sensitivity to platinum-based chemotherapy. Therefore, reliable biomarkers to identify DNA repair-deficient cancers prior to treatment may be useful for directing patients to platinum chemotherapy and possibly PARP inhibitors.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSporadic basal-like cancers (BLCs) are a common subtype of breast cancer that share multiple biological properties with BRCA1-mutated breast tumors. Despite being BRCA1(+/+), sporadic BLCs are widely viewed as phenocopies of BRCA1-mutated breast cancers, because they are hypothesized to manifest a BRCA1 functional defect or breakdown of a pathway(s) in which BRCA1 plays a major role. The role of BRCA1 in the repair of double-strand DNA breaks by homologous recombination (HR) is its best understood function and the function most often implicated in BRCA1 breast cancer suppression.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUnlabelled: The p220 BRCA1 tumor suppressor protein has been implicated in multiple biochemical and biologic functions since its molecular cloning 18 years ago. Here, we discuss those functions most relevant for its tumor-suppressing activities with an emphasis on new findings. In particular, this review focuses on what is known of the activities of those BRCA1-binding partners that have tumor suppressor functions, on the reversion of mutant BRCA1 alleles concomitant with therapy resistance, on insights gained from studies of BRCA1 structure-function relationships, recent findings from animal models, and the potential role of BRCA1 in some nonhereditary tumors.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUnlabelled: DNA repair competency is one determinant of sensitivity to certain chemotherapy drugs, such as cisplatin. Cancer cells with intact DNA repair can avoid the accumulation of genome damage during growth and also can repair platinum-induced DNA damage. We sought genomic signatures indicative of defective DNA repair in cell lines and tumors and correlated these signatures to platinum sensitivity.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: The majority of breast cancers that occur in BRCA1 mutation carriers (BRCA1 carriers) are estrogen receptor-negative (ER-). Therefore, it has been suggested that ER negativity is intrinsic to BRCA1 cancers and reflects the cell of origin of these tumors. However, approximately 20% of breast cancers that develop in BRCA1 carriers are ER-positive (ER+); these cancers are more likely to develop as BRCA1 carriers age, suggesting that they may be incidental and unrelated to BRCA1 deficiency.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn contrast to endocrine-sensitive and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-positive breast cancer, novel agents capable of treating advanced triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) are lacking. Poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibitors are emerging as one of the most promising "targeted" therapeutics to treat TNBC, with the intended "target" being DNA repair. PARPs are a family of enzymes involved in multiple cellular processes, including DNA repair.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCurr Opin Oncol
November 2010
Purpose Of Review: Poly ADP-ribose polymerase inhibitors are a promising new area in cancer therapeutics. This review summarizes the current understanding of their mechanism of action, their state of clinical development, and possible mechanisms of resistance.
Recent Findings: Poly ADP-ribose polymerase inhibitors were predicted to cause lethality in cells with lesions in homologous recombination, as well as to be synergistic with cytotoxic chemotherapy.
PURPOSE Cisplatin is a chemotherapeutic agent not used routinely for breast cancer treatment. As a DNA cross-linking agent, cisplatin may be effective treatment for hereditary BRCA1-mutated breast cancers. Because sporadic triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) and BRCA1-associated breast cancer share features suggesting common pathogenesis, we conducted a neoadjuvant trial of cisplatin in TNBC and explored specific biomarkers to identify predictors of response.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMultiple somatic rearrangements are often found in cancer genomes; however, the underlying processes of rearrangement and their contribution to cancer development are poorly characterized. Here we use a paired-end sequencing strategy to identify somatic rearrangements in breast cancer genomes. There are more rearrangements in some breast cancers than previously appreciated.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFClin Cancer Res
October 2009
Classification schemes for disease states can help identify distinctions with useful implications for therapy and prognosis. Speers and colleagues provide a new subclassification scheme for estrogen receptor-negative breast cancer based upon kinome-wide gene expression profiling with interesting findings that are potentially relevant for both treatment and clinical outcome.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCyclins are regulatory subunits of cyclin-dependent kinases. Cyclin A, the first cyclin ever cloned, is thought to be an essential component of the cell-cycle engine. Mammalian cells encode two A-type cyclins, testis-specific cyclin A1 and ubiquitously expressed cyclin A2.
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