Open AccessTrastuzumab in Primary Inflammatory Breast Cancer (IBC): High Pathological Response Rates and Improved Outcome
Author(s) -
Dawood Shaheenah,
Gong Yun,
Broglio Kristine,
Buchholz Thomas A.,
Woodward Wendy,
Lucci Anthony,
Valero Vicente,
GonzalezAngulo Ana M.,
Hortobagyi Gabriel N.,
Cristofanilli Massimo
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
the breast journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.533
H-Index - 72
eISSN - 1524-4741
pISSN - 1075-122X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1524-4741.2010.00953.x
Subject(s) - trastuzumab , medicine , inflammatory breast cancer , breast cancer , oncology , pathological , chemotherapy , complete response , cxcr4 , cancer , inflammation , chemokine
Inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) represents a rare but aggressive and lethal form of locally advanced breast cancer (LABC) and frequently with HER‐2 neu overexpressed or amplified. We retrospectively identified 16 newly diagnosed HER‐2/neu‐positive IBC patients who were treated with preoperative trastuzumab. We determined the pathological complete response rate (pCR) when trastuzumab was added to preoperative chemotherapy in patients with HER2/neu‐positive IBC. Furthermore, we assessed the expression of CXCR4 in metastatic recurrence sites. Ten patients (62.5%) achieved a pCR. Six patients (37.5%) achieved a partial response. Median follow‐up of all patients was 24.2 months. Four (25%) patients have experienced a progression, of which three were in the brain. Two‐year progression‐free survival was 59.4% (95% CI 35–100). High expression of CXCR4 was detected in the brain metastases. We conclude that in spite of high pCR rates among women with HER‐2/neu‐positive IBC treated with neoadjuvant trastuzumab‐based regimens the outcome remains dismal and brain recurrences are frequent. CXCR4 may represent a novel therapeutic target.