title: Neo-adjuvant chemotherapy for operable breast cancer induces apoptosis.
abstract: The use of neo-adjuvant chemotherapy (often referred to as pre-operative or primary chemotherapy) represents a major change in the management of breast cancer as a systemic disease. Laboratory studies have shown that many anti-cancer agents with differing modes of action achieve cytotoxic effects by inducing apoptosis. In this study, we investigated the induction of apoptosis by neo-adjuvant chemotherapy in human breast cancer. The aim was to determine whether a correlation existed between post chemotherapy apoptotic index (AI) and clinical response and patients' survival. Our results indicate that apoptosis is induced by neo-adjuvant chemotherapy and that the response is variable. Our data show that post chemotherapy AI correlated with clinical response and increased patient survival, including both relapse (disease) free survival and overall survival. Post-neo-adjuvant chemotherapy AI levels in primary breast cancer may possibly predict an individual patient's overall response.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Cancer Hospital, Shanghai Medical University, China.
authors.forename: Z M
authors.initials: ZM
authors.lastname: Shao
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Q X
authors.initials: QX
authors.lastname: Han
authors.forename: Z Z
authors.initials: ZZ
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Fontana
authors.forename: S H
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Barsky
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000627:therapeutic use; D017209:Apoptosis; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D017024:Chemotherapy, Adjuvant; D003520:Cyclophosphamide / Q000627:therapeutic use; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D005260:Female; D005472:Fluorouracil / Q000627:therapeutic use; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008727:Methotrexate / Q000627:therapeutic use; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D020360:Neoadjuvant Therapy; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011379:Prognosis; D011960:Receptors, Estrogen / Q000378:metabolism; D015996:Survival Rate
chemical_list: D011960:Receptors, Estrogen; D003520:Cyclophosphamide; D005472:Fluorouracil; D008727:Methotrexate