title: Residual mucin and response after neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) in breast cancer.
abstract: Neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) is the standard of care for patients with breast cancer with inoperable disease or smaller tumours who might benefit from a conservative surgery after downstaging of their disease. Nevertheless, evidence shows that preoperative and postoperative chemotherapy are equivalent in terms of long-term survival. Response and histological changes after NAC have been widely studied in invasive ductal carcinoma not otherwise specified, but there is a paucity of characterisation of patterns of response to chemotherapy in less frequent histological types. We report extensive residual mucin deposits after chemotherapy in a woman with locally advanced breast cancer and a prominent mucinous component at diagnosis. Interestingly, residual mucin was co-located with the initial tumour, in the breast as well as in the axillary lymph nodes. The distribution of mucin may be a valuable marker of the extent of mucinous carcinomas prior to NAC.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, St James's Institute of Oncology, St James's University Hospital, Leeds, UK.
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Jove
authors.affiliation: Pathology Department, St James's Institute of Oncology, St James' University Hospital, Leeds, Leeds, UK.
authors.forename: Eldo
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Verghese
authors.affiliation: Radiology Department, St James's University Hospital, Leeds, UK.
authors.forename: Nisha
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Sharma
authors.affiliation: Pathology Department, St James's Institute of Oncology, St James' University Hospital, Leeds, Leeds, UK.
authors.forename: Sally
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lane
mesh_terms: D002288:Adenocarcinoma, Mucinous / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000378:metabolism; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000378:metabolism; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008198:Lymph Nodes / Q000378:metabolism; D008875:Middle Aged; D009077:Mucins / Q000378:metabolism*; D020360:Neoadjuvant Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D009077:Mucins