An international study to increase concordance in Ki67 scoring.

Although an important biomarker in breast cancer, Ki67 lacks scoring standardization, which has limited its clinical use. Our previous study found variability when laboratories used their own scoring methods on centrally stained tissue microarray slides. In this current study, 16 laboratories from eight countries calibrated to a specific Ki67 scoring method and then scored 50 centrally MIB-1 stained tissue microarray cases.

Evaluation of PTEN loss and PIK3CA mutations and their correlation with efficacy of trastuzumab treatment in HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer: A retrospective study (KBC-SG 1001).

Trastuzumab (T) has contributed to improving the prognosis of human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-positive breast cancer. Although some patients have been unresponsive or resistant to T. Loss of phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN) deleted on chromosome 10, PIK3CA mutation and p95HER2 expression have been reported to potentially be responsible for the poor response to T.

Aldehyde dehydrogenase 1 expression predicts poor prognosis in triple-negative breast cancer.

Aims: Aldehyde dehydrogenase 1 (ALDH1) has been identified as a reliable marker of breast cancer stem cells, and its clinical significance as a prognostic indicator of breast cancer has been reported by several investigators. However, the clinical significance of ALDH1 expression in triple-negative (TN) breast cancer, a high-risk breast cancer lacking the benefit of specific therapy, remains to be solved.

Methods And Results: We performed immunohistochemical analyses of 106 TN breast cancers, using paraffin-embedded sections.

Study on the state of implementation of HER2 testing and positive ratios in patients with breast cancer in the Kyushu-Okinawa region of Japan.

Background: The development of molecular-targeted agents has improved the recovery rate for cancer. In Japan, trastuzumab has been approved as an adjuvant treatment for human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 (HER2)-positive breast cancer; therefore, accurate management of HER2 testing has become more important. In addition, proper patient selection is required from the viewpoint of health care economics.

Maspin expression is frequent and correlates with basal markers in triple-negative breast cancer.

Background: Maspin is a unique member of the serine protease inhibitor superfamily and its expression is found in myoepithelial cells of normal mammary glands; therefore, it has been considered to be a myoepithelial marker. We previously reported that maspin was frequently expressed in biologically aggressive breast cancers. In turn, triple-negative (TN) breast cancer is a subtype of tumor with aggressive clinical behavior and shows frequent expression of basal markers.

Mucocele-like lesions of the breast: a long-term follow-up study.

Background: Mucocele-like lesions (MLL) of the breast were originally described as benign lesions composed of multiple cysts lined by uniform flat to cuboidal epithelium with extravasated mucin, but subsequent reports described the coexistence of columnar cell lesions (CCL), atypical ductal hyperplasia (ADH) and ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS). Several reports have investigated whether core biopsy can diagnose MLL reliably; however, there is only one report with a long-term follow-up after excision of MLL. We report here 15 surgically excised MLL with a long-term follow-up.