title: Breast cancer subtypes predispose the site of distant metastases.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The distant organs to which breast cancer preferentially metastasizes are of significant clinical importance.
  
  
  METHODS
  We explored the relationship between the clinicopathologic factors and the common sites of distant metastasis in 531 consecutive patients with advanced breast cancer.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Breast cancer subtype as a variable was significantly associated with all five common sites of relapse by multivariate analysis. The luminal tumors were remarkable for their significant bone-seeking phenotype and were less frequently observed in lung, brain, and pleural metastases and less likely to be associated with multiorgan relapse. The HER2 subtype demonstrated a significant liver-homing characteristic. African Americans were significantly less likely to have brain-only metastasis in patients with brain relapse.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These findings further articulate that breast cancer subtypes differ not only in tumor characteristics but also in their metastatic behavior, thus raising the possibility that this knowledge could potentially be used in determining the appropriate strategy for follow-up of patients with newly diagnosed breast cancer.
authors.affiliation: From the Department of Pathology, School of Medicine and.
authors.forename: Abha
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Soni
authors.affiliation: From the Department of Pathology, School of Medicine and.
authors.forename: Zhiyong
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Ren
authors.affiliation: From the Department of Pathology, School of Medicine and Department of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN.
authors.forename: Omar
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Hameed
authors.affiliation: Department of Biostatistics, School of Public Health, University of Alabama at Birmingham, and.
authors.forename: Diptiman
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Chanda
authors.affiliation: Department of Biostatistics, School of Public Health, University of Alabama at Birmingham, and.
authors.forename: Charity J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Morgan
authors.affiliation: From the Department of Pathology, School of Medicine and.
authors.forename: Gene P
authors.initials: GP
authors.lastname: Siegal
authors.affiliation: From the Department of Pathology, School of Medicine and swei@uab.edu.
authors.forename: Shi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wei
mesh_terms: D001859:Bone Neoplasms / Q000556:secondary*; D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000556:secondary*; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000145:classification / Q000473:pathology*; D015984:Causality; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000556:secondary*; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000556:secondary*; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / Q000473:pathology / Q000556:secondary; D010997:Pleural Neoplasms / Q000556:secondary*
keywords: Breast cancer; Metastasis; Subtype