Reverting estrogen-receptor-negative phenotype in HER-2-overexpressing advanced breast cancer patients exposed to trastuzumab plus chemotherapy.
BACKGROUND
The amounts of estrogen receptor (ER) and progesterone receptor (PgR) in a primary tumor are predictive of the response to endocrine therapies of breast cancer. Several patients with ER-positive primary tumors relapse after adjuvant endocrine therapy with no ER expression in the recurrent tissue; much fewer with a recurrent disease after an ER-negative primary tumor may become endocrine responsive. These sequences of events indicate that a phenotype based on ER expression may not be a permanent feature of breast cancer.


METHODS
Ten patients with advanced breast cancer whose tumors overexpressed HER-2, but not ER or PgR, were treated with weekly trastuzumab at standard doses with or without chemotherapy.


RESULTS
Three out of 10 patients showed overexpression of ERs first appearing after 9, 12 and 37 weeks, respectively, from the initiation of trastuzumab. Two of these patients were subsequently treated with endocrine therapy alone: one of them received letrozole for 3 years without evidence of progression.


CONCLUSIONS
Therapeutic targets enabling the appearance of an endocrine responsive disease may increase treatment options for patients with breast cancer. Furthermore, these clinical data suggest that an ER-negative phenotype is a multi-step process with a reversible repression modality, and that some ER-negative tumors may either revert to an ER-positive phenotype, allowing an endocrine treatment to be effective.
Munzone
Elisabetta
E
Department of Medicine, Division of Medical Oncology, European Institute of Oncology, Via Ripamonti 435, 20141 Milan, Italy. elisabetta.munzone@ieo.it
Curigliano
Giuseppe
G
Rocca
Andrea
A
Bonizzi
Giuseppina
G
Renne
Giuseppe
G
Goldhirsch
Aron
A
Nolè
Franco
F
D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D061067:Antibodies, Monoclonal, Humanized; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D007262:Infusions, Intravenous; D017239:Paclitaxel / Q000008:administration & dosage; D010641:Phenotype; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases / Q000032:analysis / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D011960:Receptors, Estrogen / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D011980:Receptors, Progesterone / Q000096:biosynthesis; D000068878:Trastuzumab; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014747:Vinblastine / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000031:analogs & derivatives; D000077235:Vinorelbine
D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D061067:Antibodies, Monoclonal, Humanized; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D017239:Paclitaxel; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases; D011960:Receptors, Estrogen; D011980:Receptors, Progesterone; D000068878:Trastuzumab; D014747:Vinblastine; D000077235:Vinorelbine