Influence of Height on Risk and Outcome of Patients with Early Breast Cancer: A Pooled Analysis of 4,925 Patients from 5 Randomized Trials of the Austrian Breast and Colorectal Cancer Study Group (ABCSG).

Background: Associations between height, cancer risk and worse outcome have been reported for several cancers including breast cancer. We hypothesized that in breast cancer clinical trials, tall women should be overrepresented and might have worse prognosis.

Methods: Data of 4,935 women, included from 1990 to 2010 in 5 trials of the Austrian Breast and Colorectal Cancer Study Group (ABCSG), were analyzed retrospectively.

Comparison of nab-paclitaxel plus gemcitabine in elderly versus younger patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer: Analysis of a multicentre, prospective, non-interventional study.

Background: Pancreatic cancer (PC) ranks among the deadliest malignancies worldwide. In the MPACT study, first-line nab-paclitaxel plus gemcitabine (nab-P/G) demonstrated activity (median overall survival [OS], 8.7 months) and tolerability in patients with metastatic PC (mPC).

Adjuvant denosumab in postmenopausal patients with hormone receptor-positive breast cancer (ABCSG-18): disease-free survival results from a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, phase 3 trial.

Background: In postmenopausal women with hormone receptor-positive, early-stage breast cancer, treatment with adjuvant aromatase inhibitors is the standard of care, but it increases risk for osteoporosis and fractures. Results from the ABCSG-18 trial showed that use of denosumab as an adjuvant to aromatase inhibitor therapy significantly reduced clinical fractures. Disease-free survival outcomes from ABCSG-18 have not yet been reported.

Radiologic complete response (rCR) in contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (CE-MRI) after neoadjuvant chemotherapy for early breast cancer predicts recurrence-free survival but not pathologic complete response (pCR).

Background: Patients with early breast cancer (EBC) achieving pathologic complete response (pCR) after neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) have a favorable prognosis. Breast surgery might be avoided in patients in whom the presence of residual tumor can be ruled out with high confidence. Here, we investigated the diagnostic accuracy of contrast-enhanced MRI (CE-MRI) in predicting pCR and long-term outcome after NACT.

ASCO 2017-highlights of gynecological cancer.

At this year's ASCO annual meeting several important studies in the field of gynecological cancer were presented. Here we report a personal selection of the most interesting and clinically relevant data.

Effect of Tailored Dose-Dense Chemotherapy vs Standard 3-Weekly Adjuvant Chemotherapy on Recurrence-Free Survival Among Women With High-Risk Early Breast Cancer: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance: Standard dosing of chemotherapy based on body surface area results in marked interpatient variation in pharmacokinetics, toxic effects, and efficacy. Whether tailored dosing can improve outcomes is unknown, as is the role of dose-dense adjuvant chemotherapy.

Objective: To determine whether tailored dose-dense adjuvant chemotherapy improves the outcomes of early breast cancer compared with a standard 3-weekly chemotherapy schedule.

Immune checkpoint blockade in ovarian cancer.

Increased numbers of tumour infiltrating T‑cells have long been associated with a better prognosis in ovarian cancer, which has led to the general assumption of a relevant impact of T‑cellular anti-tumour immunity in this disease. As a consequence of this knowledge, a multitude of immunologic therapies has emerged over the past years. Although some reports could evidence a successful induction of anti-tumour T‑cells, in general, these attempts did not translate into clinically significant activity.

Endothelin-1 genetic polymorphism as predictive marker for bevacizumab in metastatic breast cancer.

Biomarkers for bevacizumab efficacy in metastatic breast cancer (MBC) are of urgent need. The genetic variability of genes involved in angiogenesis could explain the interpatient variability of drug effects. For this biomarker study DNA was extracted from tumor blocks or blood samples of patients with human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-negative MBC treated with bevacizumab in combination with chemotherapy (bevacizumab cohort, 163 patients) or chemotherapy only (control cohort, 105 patients).

Adjuvant medical treatment for breast cancer in elderly and old women.

The probability of developing breast cancer increases with age. Therefore, more than 50 % of women with breast cancer are older than 65 years at the time of diagnosis. However, elderly patients are often undertreated and clinical trials for elderly patients in the adjuvant setting are lacking.

miR-16-5p Is a Stably-Expressed Housekeeping MicroRNA in Breast Cancer Tissues from Primary Tumors and from Metastatic Sites.

For quantitative microRNA analyses in formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissue, expression levels have to be normalized to endogenous controls. To investigate the most stably-expressed microRNAs in breast cancer and its surrounding tissue, we used tumor samples from primary tumors and from metastatic sites. MiRNA profiling using TaqMan(®) Array Human MicroRNA Cards, enabling quantification of 754 unique human miRNAs, was performed in FFPE specimens from 58 patients with metastatic breast cancer.

Adjuvant denosumab in breast cancer (ABCSG-18): a multicentre, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial.

Background: Adjuvant endocrine therapy compromises bone health in patients with breast cancer, causing osteopenia, osteoporosis, and fractures. Antiresorptive treatments such as bisphosphonates prevent and counteract these side-effects. In this trial, we aimed to investigate the effects of the anti-RANK ligand antibody denosumab in postmenopausal, aromatase inhibitor-treated patients with early-stage hormone receptor-positive breast cancer.

Lapatinib-plus-pegylated liposomal doxorubicin in advanced HER2-positive breast cancer following trastuzumab: a phase II trial.

Background: Trastuzumab, one important treatment option for HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer (MBC) is limited by its cardiotoxic potential. Lapatinib and pegylated liposomal doxorubicin (PLD) represent a cardiosparing alternative that can cross the blood brain barrier. This is important, because one third of breast cancer patients develop brain metastases.

Zoledronic acid combined with adjuvant endocrine therapy of tamoxifen versus anastrozol plus ovarian function suppression in premenopausal early breast cancer: final analysis of the Austrian Breast and Colorectal Cancer Study Group Trial 12.

Background: Zoledronic acid (ZOL) plus adjuvant endocrine therapy significantly improved disease-free survival (DFS) at 48- and 62-month follow-up in the ABCSG-12 trial. We present efficacy results of a final additional analysis after 94.4 months.

Sorafenib in advanced, heavily pretreated patients with soft tissue sarcomas.

Therapeutic options for patients with advanced pretreated soft tissue sarcomas are limited. However, in this setting, sorafenib has shown promising results. We reviewed the data of 33 patients with soft tissue sarcoma treated with sorafenib within a named patient program in Austria.

The PAM50 risk-of-recurrence score predicts risk for late distant recurrence after endocrine therapy in postmenopausal women with endocrine-responsive early breast cancer.

Purpose: To assess the prognostic value of the PAM50 risk-of-recurrence (ROR) score on late distant recurrence (beyond 5 years after diagnosis and treatment) in a large cohort of postmenopausal, endocrine-responsive breast cancer patients.

Experimental Design: The PAM50 assay was performed on formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded whole-tumor sections of patients who had been enrolled in the Austrian Breast and Colorectal Cancer Study Group Trial 8 (ABCSG-8). RNA expression levels of the PAM50 genes were determined centrally using the nCounter Dx Analysis System.

Hypertension as a predictive marker for bevacizumab in metastatic breast cancer: results from a retrospective matched-pair analysis.

Background: Several phase-III studies have shown improvements in terms of progression-free survival (PFS) with bevacizumab when added to chemotherapy in advanced breast cancer. However, the extent of improvement varied and none of the trials showed benefit in terms of overall survival (OS).

Patients And Methods: All patients with metastatic breast cancer treated with bevacizumab at our Institution between 2005 and 2011 were retrospectively analyzed.

Epirubicin and docetaxel with or without capecitabine as neoadjuvant treatment for early breast cancer: final results of a randomized phase III study (ABCSG-24).

Background: This randomized phase III trial compared pathologic complete response (pCR) rates of early breast cancer (EBC) following neoadjuvant epirubicin-docetaxel (ED)±capecitabine (C), and evaluated the addition of trastuzumab in HER2-positive tumors.

Patients And Methods: Patients with invasive breast cancer (except T4d) were randomly assigned to receive six 3-weekly cycles of ED (both 75 mg/m2)±C (1000 mg/m2, twice daily, days 1-14). Patients with HER2-positive disease were further randomized to receive trastuzumab (8 mg/kg, then 6 mg/kg every 3 weeks) or not.

Predicting distant recurrence in receptor-positive breast cancer patients with limited clinicopathological risk: using the PAM50 Risk of Recurrence score in 1478 postmenopausal patients of the ABCSG-8 trial treated with adjuvant endocrine therapy alone.

Background: PAM50 is a 50-gene test that is designed to identify intrinsic breast cancer subtypes and generate a Risk of Recurrence (ROR) score. It has been developed to be carried out in qualified routine hospital pathology laboratories.

Patients And Methods: One thousand four hundred seventy-eight postmenopausal women with estrogen receptor (ER)+ early breast cancer (EBC) treated with tamoxifen or tamoxifen followed by anastrozole from the prospective randomized ABCSG-8 trial were entered into this study.

The predictive impact of body mass index on the efficacy of extended adjuvant endocrine treatment with anastrozole in postmenopausal patients with breast cancer: an analysis of the randomised ABCSG-6a trial.

Background: We investigated whether body mass index (BMI) can be used as a predictive parameter indicating patients who benefit from extended aromatase inhibitor (AI) treatment.

Methods: The ABCSG-6a trial re-randomised event-free postmenopausal hormone receptor-positive patients from the ABCSG-6 trial to receive either 3 additional years of endocrine therapy using anastrozole vs nil. In this retrospective analysis, we investigated the prognostic and predictive impact of BMI on disease outcome and safety.

Efficacy of tamoxifen ± aminoglutethimide in normal weight and overweight postmenopausal patients with hormone receptor-positive breast cancer: an analysis of 1509 patients of the ABCSG-06 trial.

Background: There exists evidence that body mass index (BMI) impacts on the efficacy of aromatase inhibitors in patients with breast cancer. The relationship between BMI and the efficacy of tamoxifen is conflicting. We investigated the impact of BMI on the efficacy of single tamoxifen and tamoxifen plus an aromatase inhibitor in the well-defined prospective study population of the ABCSG-06 trial.

Tamoxifen and anastrozole as a sequencing strategy: a randomized controlled trial in postmenopausal patients with endocrine-responsive early breast cancer from the Austrian Breast and Colorectal Cancer Study Group.

Purpose: Anastrozole (ANA) alone delivers significant disease-free survival benefits over tamoxifen (TAM) monotherapy in postmenopausal women with early estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer. The ABCSG-8 (Austrian Breast and Colorectal Cancer Study Group 8) study is a large phase III clinical trial addressing the sequence strategy containing ANA in comparison with 5 years of TAM in a low- to intermediate-risk group of postmenopausal patients.

Patients And Methods: Endocrine receptor-positive patients with G1 or G2 tumors were eligible.

Single-agent pegylated liposomal doxorubicin (PLD) in the treatment of metastatic breast cancer: results of an Austrian observational trial.

Background: In advanced breast cancer, multiple sequential lines of treatments are frequently applied. Pegylated liposomal doxorubicin (PLD) has a favourable toxicity profile and can be used in first or higher lines of therapy. PLD has demonstrated response activity even after prior anthracycline exposure.

Adjuvant endocrine therapy plus zoledronic acid in premenopausal women with early-stage breast cancer: 62-month follow-up from the ABCSG-12 randomised trial.

Background: Analysis of the Austrian Breast and Colorectal Cancer Study Group trial-12 (ABCSG-12) at 48 months' follow-up showed that addition of zoledronic acid to adjuvant endocrine therapy significantly improved disease-free survival. We have now assessed long-term clinical efficacy including disease-free survival and disease outcomes in patients receiving anastrozole or tamoxifen with or without zoledronic acid.

Methods: ABSCG-12 is a randomised, controlled, open-label, two-by-two factorial, multicentre trial in 1803 premenopausal women with endocrine-receptor-positive early-stage (stage I-II) breast cancer receiving goserelin (3.