Genomic Grade Index (GGI): feasibility in routine practice and impact on treatment decisions in early breast cancer.

Purpose: Genomic Grade Index (GGI) is a 97-gene signature that improves histologic grade (HG) classification in invasive breast carcinoma. In this prospective study we sought to evaluate the feasibility of performing GGI in routine clinical practice and its impact on treatment recommendations.

Methods: Patients with pT1pT2 or operable pT3, N0-3 invasive breast carcinoma were recruited from 8 centers in Belgium.

Weekly paclitaxel versus weekly docetaxel in elderly or frail patients with metastatic breast carcinoma: a randomized phase-II study of the Belgian Society of Medical Oncology.

This randomized phase-II trial investigated the efficacy and tolerability of weekly docetaxel or paclitaxel in metastatic breast cancer (MBC) patients considered unfit for a 3-weekly therapy. The primary study endpoint was antitumor activity, the second endpoint was tolerability, time to progression (TTP) and overall survival (OS). In intent-to-treat analysis, we observed for paclitaxel and docetaxel respectively partial response (PR) in 48% versus 38%, stable disease (SD) in 24% versus 16%, PD in 15% versus 30%.

Phosphorylated HER-2 tyrosine kinase and Her-2/neu gene amplification as predictive factors of response to trastuzumab in patients with HER-2 overexpressing metastatic breast cancer (MBC).

Aim: Trastuzumab (T), a humanised monoclonal antibody against HER-2, is active in HER-2-positive MBC patients. However, nearly 60% of the patients do not benefit from T, stressing the need for additional predictive markers. The following markers could be implicated in response to T: (1) the magnitude of Her-2 gene amplification; (2) the co-expression of the other HER family receptors, possibly responsible for HER-2 trans-activation; (3) the activated status of HER-2; (4) the activated status of downstream effectors as mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs), p38 and p27.