METHODS: We evaluated the immunohistochemical expression of PD-L1 and FOXP3, and the extent of tumour infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) in a large cohort of metaplastic breast cancers, with survival data.
RESULTS: Metaplastic breast cancers were significantly enriched for PD-L1 positive tumour cells, compared to triple-negative ductal breast cancers (P breast cancers were also significantly enriched for TILs expressing FOXP3, with FOXP3 positive intra-tumoural TILs (iTILs) associated with an adverse prognostic outcome (P = 0.0226). Multivariate analysis identified FOXP3 iTILs expression status as an important independent prognostic factor for patient survival.
CONCLUSIONS: Our findings indicate the clinical significance and prognostic value of FOXP3, PD-1/PD-L1 checkpoint and TILs in metaplastic breast cancer and confirm that a subset of metaplastics may benefit from immune-based therapies.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: This cross-sectional study involved 168 women diagnosed with breast cancer. The inclusion criteria were age >18 years old, having histologically confirmed breast cancer, and being diagnosed between January 1, 2009 to December 31, 2012. The exclusion criteria were being illiterate and having cognitive impairment. For data collection patients' medical records and the Cancer Behaviour Inventory-Brief (CBI-B) Malay version questionnaire were used. Simple and multiple logistic regression methods were used to analyse the data.
RESULTS: Patients' mean (SD) age was 51.4 (10.8) years old. Most of the patients were Malays, married, diagnosed at stage 2 breast cancer (41%), and completed their breast cancer treatment. The mean score for self-efficacy for coping with breast cancer was 83.67 (95% CI: 81.87, 85.47). The significant factors positively correlated with self-efficacy for coping with breast cancer were higher educational background and a higher family income. However, factors such as a family history of breast cancer and breast surgery reduced the mean score of self-efficacy for coping with breast cancer.
CONCLUSION: The mean score of self-efficacy for coping with breast cancer in this study was moderate. Self-efficacy for coping with breast cancer in Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia was not adequate among sufferers and improvement is needed probably by providing education to these patients.
METHODOLOGY: We conducted a retrospective cross-sectional study on 57 archived formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissue blocks of PT from the years 2015 to 2018 from two hospitals in East Coast Malaysia. The histopathological examination and immunohistochemical stain for Ki67 and p53 were analysed.
RESULTS: There was an association between clinical descriptive data of skin changes, lump size of more than 3 cm, cytological atypia, stromal hypercellularity, mitosis and immunohistochemistry with the clinical diagnosis of PT. Both marked expression of Ki67 and p53 were seen in borderline and malignant PT. Our study showed that in the presence of high mitotic figures, marked expression of Ki67 was only seen in cases of malignant PT.
CONCLUSION: We found a significant association of Ki67 and p53 expressions, high mitosis and other descriptive histopathological features in malignant PT. Further study with larger sample size is recommended to predict tumour grade and prognosis as well as the disease-free survival of the tumour.
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METHODS: We recruited 10 patients with advanced breast cancer with ECOG (Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group) performance status score of zero to two, who needed chemotherapy in the first or second-line setting to receive two-weekly docetaxel for 8 cycles. The primary endpoint was safety and secondary endpoints were response rate and progression free survival.
RESULTS: The most reported adverse events were haematological (anaemia 100% and neutropenia 90%). The febrile neutropenia rate was 10%. The overall response rate was 20%. The median progression free survival was 5.0 months.
CONCLUSION: Two-weekly docetaxel may be a reasonable alternative treatment regimen for patients with advanced breast cancer in the first or second-line setting. This regimen is yet to be compared with standard 3-weekly schedule in a phase 3 randomised clinical trial.
METHODS: We searched Google scholar, PubMed, Ovid Medline, Scopus and ClinicalTrials.gov with several relevant combinations of keywords, looking for texts or abstracts without any date or language limitations, but using only English keywords. The existing literature only consisted of case reports and series; therefore any paper including one or several cases of PT presenting during pregnancy or breastfeeding was recognized as eligible. Articles with vague description of the tumor which made the diagnosis uncertain, and those lacking data about the tumor and management data were excluded. We contacted authors for more details in cases with incomplete information.
RESULTS: After excluding those with very deficient data, we included 37 studies, counting 43 cases. The mean age of the patients was 31 years (21-43 years). Some features were different from usual PT: bilaterality (16.2%), large size (14.2 ± 8.6 cm), rapid enlargement (79.5%), and rate of malignancy (60.5%).
CONCLUSION: Our findings show high rates of bilaterality, large size, rapid growth, and malignant pathology in the reported gestational PTs.