Background:Breast cancer commonly metastasises to the brain, but little is known about changes in the molecular profile of the brain secondaries and impact on clinical outcomes.Methods:Patients with samples from brain metastases and matched breast cancers were included. Immunohistochemical analysis for oestrogen receptor, progesterone receptor, p27kip1, cyclin D1, epidermal growth factor receptor, insulin like growth factor 1, insulin like growth factor 1 receptor, vascular endothelial growth factor A, transforming growth factor-β and HER2 receptor was performed. Borderline HER2 results were analysed by fluorescent in situ hybridisation. Levels of expression were compared, with review of effect on clinical outcomes.Results:A total of 41 patients were included. Of the patients, 20% had a change in oestrogen receptor or HER2 in their brain metastasis that could affect therapeutic decisions. There were statistically significant rises in brain metastases for p27kip1 (P=0.023) and cyclin D1 (P=0.030) and a fall in vascular endothelial growth factor A (P=0.012). Overall survival from the time of metastasis increased significantly with oestrogen receptor-positive (P=0.005) and progesterone receptor-positive (P=0.013) brain lesions and with a longer duration from diagnosis of the breast primary (P<0.001).Conclusions:In this cohort there were phenotypic differences in metastatic brain tumours compared with matched primary breast tumours. These could be relevant for aetiology, and have an impact on prognostication, current and future therapies.
When comparing obese to non-obese women, obesity does not negatively impact the incidence of radiation toxicities in endometrial cancer. However, toxicities remain an important challenge as they are common and negatively influence the quality of life (QoL) of survivors. Future studies need to further explore the role of BMI and possible interventions to improve toxicities and QoL.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.