Circulating Tumor Cells and Recurrence After Primary Systemic Therapy in Stage III Inflammatory Breast Cancer
Menée à partir d'échantillons sanguins prélevés sur 63 patientes atteintes d'un cancer inflammatoire du sein de stade III traité par chimiothérapie systémique de première ligne (durée moyenne de suivi : 38 mois), cette étude évalue l'association entre la détection, après traitement, de cellules tumorales circulantes et le risque de récidive
Inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) is rare and aggressive, with poor survival. While circulating tumor cells (CTCs) predict outcome in non-IBC patients, little data exists regarding their prognostic significance in IBC. This prospective study analyzed blood samples for CTCs from 63 stage III IBC patients to determine if CTCs present after primary systemic chemotherapy predicted relapse. CTC identification was not associated with tumor characteristics, lymph node positivity, or complete pathologic response to systemic therapy. At mean follow-up of 38 months, multivariable analysis demonstrated that detection of one or more CTCs predicted shortened relapse-free (log-rank P = 0.005, hazard ratio [HR] = 4.22, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.67 to 10.67, Cox P = 0.002) but not overall survival (log-rank P = 0.54, HR = 1.53, 95% CI = 0.41 to 5.79, Cox P = 0.53). All statistical tests were two-sided. In this study, CTCs after primary chemotherapy identified IBC patients at high risk for relapse.
Journal of the National Cancer Institute , résumé, 2015