Skip Navigation



Annals of Oncology Advance Access published online on October 29, 2009
Annals of Oncology, doi:10.1093/annonc/mdp470
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow E-letters: Submit a response
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when E-letters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Disclaimer
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Banelli, B.
Right arrow Articles by Del Mastro, L.
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Banelli, B.
Right arrow Articles by Del Mastro, L.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Author 2009. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Society for Medical Oncology. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Pathological and molecular characteristics distinguishing contralateral metastatic from new primary breast cancer

B. Banelli1,{dagger}, I. Casciano1,{dagger}, A. Di Vinci1,{dagger}, B. Gatteschi{dagger},2, A. Levaggi3, F. Carli2, C. Bighin3, S. Salvi2, G. Allemanni1, P. Ghiorzo4, P. Pronzato3, M. Venturini3,5, M. Romani1,* and L. Del Mastro3

1 Department of Advanced Diagnostic Technologies, Division of Tumor Genetics
2 Department of Advanced Diagnostic Technologies, Division of Pathology
3 Department of Integrated Medical Oncology, Division of Medical Oncology ‘A’, Istituto Nazionale per la Ricerca sul Cancro, Istituto Scientifico Tumori
4 Department of Oncology, Biology and Genetics (DOBiG), University of Genova, Genova
5 Department of Oncology, Sacro Cuore-Don Calabria Hospital, Negrar (Verona), Italy

* Correspondence to: Dr M. Romani, Tumor Genetics, Istituto Nazionale per la Ricerca sul Cancro, IST, Genova, Italy. Tel: +39-0105737501; Fax: +39-0105737230; E-mail: massimo.romani{at}istge.it

Background: Breast cancer patients have a cumulative lifetime risk of 2%–15% of developing a contralateral metastatic or ex novo primary cancer. From prognostic and therapeutic viewpoints, it is important to differentiate metastatic from second primary. To distinguish these entities, we investigated whether the pattern of X chromosome inactivation could determine whether the two tumors derived from different progenitor cells.

Materials and methods: The clonality of bilateral breast cancer was evaluated through the X-inactivation analysis using the human androgen receptor gene (HUMARA) polymorphism and the histopathologic and molecular results were compared. A different or an identical pattern of X inactivation was considered as indicator of a second primary cancer or not informative, respectively. We considered morphological indicators of a new primary cancer the absence of concordance in the histological type or a better histological differentiation.

Results: Ten patients with bilateral breast cancer were evaluated. Morphological criteria indicated that eight were second primary, a conclusion confirmed by the X-inactivation analysis. Two cases classified as recurrence according to morphological criteria were classified as second tumor by molecular analysis.

Conclusion: Our results show that the HUMARA clonality assay can improve the histological parameters in differentiating metastatic cancer from second primary cancer.

breast cancer, X chromosome, HUMARA, methylation, recurrence, second primary

{dagger} These authors contributed equally to the work.

Received for publication August 13, 2009. Accepted for publication August 24, 2009.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.