Clodronate can reduce the incidence and number of new bony and visceral metastases in women with breast cancer who are at high risk for distant metastases.

There is a growing body of evidence that HER2 status can change during disease recurrence or progression in breast cancer patients. In this context, re-evaluation of HER2 status by assessment of HER2 expression on circulating tumor cells (CTCs) is a strategy with potential clinical application. The aim of this trial was to determine the HER2 status of CTCs in metastatic breast cancer patients comparing two CTC assays. A total of 254 patients with metastatic breast cancer from nine German university breast cancer centers were enrolled in this prospective study. HER2 status of CTCs was assessed using both the FDA-approved CellSearch® assay and AdnaTest BreastCancer™. Using the CellSearch assay, 122 of 245 (50%) patients had ≥5 CTCs, and HER2-positive CTCs were observed in 50 (41%) of these patients. Ninety of 229 (39%) patients were CTC positive using AdnaTest BreastCancer, and HER2 positivity rate was 47% (42 of 90). The rate of breast cancer patients with HER2-negative primary tumors but HER2-positive CTCs was 32% (25 of 78) and 49% (28 of 57) using the CellSearch assay and AdnaTest BreastCancer, respectively. Considering only those patients who had CTCs on both tests (n = 62), concordant results regarding HER2 positivity were obtained in 50% of the patients (31/62) (P = 0.96, κ = -0.006). HER2-positive CTCs can be detected in a relevant number of patients with HER2 negative primary tumors. Therefore, it will be mandatory to correlate the assay-dependent HER2 status of CTCs to the clinical response on HER2-targeted therapies.

A nested multiplex PCR (NMPCR) assay that combines degenerate E6/E7 consensus primers and typespecific primers was evaluated for the detection and typing of human papillomavirus (HPV) genotypes 6/11, 16, 18, 31, 33, 35, 39, 42, 43, 44, 45, 51, 52, 56, 58, 59, 66, and 68 using HPV DNA-containing plasmids and cervical scrapes (n ‫؍‬ 1,525). The performance of the NMPCR assay relative to that of conventional PCR with MY09-MY11 and GP5؉-GP6؉ primers, and nested PCR with these two primer sets (MY/GP) was evaluated in 495 cervical scrapes with corresponding histologic and cytologic findings. HPV prevalence rates determined with the NMPCR assay were 34.7% (102 of Human papillomomaviruses (HPVs) constitute a group of more than 100 different genotypes associated with benign and malignant neoplasms of skin and mucous membranes (5, 34). Approximately 40 different HPV genotypes have been detected in the anogenital mucosa (34). On the basis of their epidemiological association with the development of cervical carcinoma, a group of so-called high-risk HPV genotypes has been defined. These include HPV genotype 16 (HPV-16),

In accordance with the literature, this study shows that associated malformations are present in more than a third of cases. Therefore, new basic guidelines for standard diagnostic classification involving patients with suspected MRKH are presented.

SignificanceDespite the revolution in cancer therapy initiated by checkpoint inhibitors, durable clinical responses remain sporadic in many types of cancer, including ovarian cancer. Understanding which antigens are essentially presented by tumor cells and further able to be recognized by T cells provides a major step toward novel effective targeted immunotherapies. In this study, we comprehensively analyzed the immunopeptidomic landscape of ovarian carcinoma and compared it to variety of benign sources to identify antigens exclusively presented on tumor cells. With personalized therapies moving into the focus of clinical cancer therapy, we further present insights on how gene-expression analysis and immunohistochemistry can support antigen selection for individualized immunotherapy.