Distribution of the 21-Gene Breast Recurrence Score in Patients with Primary Breast Cancer in Germany.

Multigene assays are being used increasingly to aid in decision-making about chemotherapy in breast cancer. Here, we present the 21-gene recurrence score (RS) of patients tested in routine clinical practice in Germany. In a retrospective analysis, 4695 patients with hormone receptor-positive and HER2-negative early breast cancer (pT1 - 3, pN0 - 1, M0) were included in whom RS testing was conducted in Germany between November 2015 and July 2018.

Simultaneous detection of circulating and disseminated tumor cells in primary breast cancer patients following neoadjuvant chemotherapy.

Purpose: Pathological complete response (pCR) is a common endpoint in neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) of primary breast cancer patients (PBC), but does not address the systemic prevalence of minimal residual disease. In this study, we compared pCR with the detection of circulating (CTC) and disseminated tumor cells (DTC) following NACT, as well as their impact on survival.

Methods: Patients with PBC receiving NACT and consecutive surgery were eligible for this study.

A high-risk 70-gene signature is not associated with the detection of tumor cell dissemination to the bone marrow.

Purpose: The 70-gene signature (70-GS) is a prognostic tool, grouping patients in risk groups to assess their need for adjuvant chemotherapy. Tumor cell dissemination to the bone marrow is a marker of minimal residual disease and associated with impaired survival. In this study, we aimed to evaluate whether 70-GS is associated with the presence of disseminated tumor cells (DTCs) in the bone marrow of patients with early breast cancer.