Chromosomal Instability Associated with Improved Outcomes in Breast Cancer

the Cancer Therapy Advisor take:

There is an association between extreme chromosomal instability and improved outcome in estrogen receptor (ER)-negative breast cancers, a new study published online early in the journal Annals of Oncology has shown.

Previous studies have shown that extreme chromosomal instability is associated with improved clinical outcome in patients with ER-negative breast cancer, while it has been shown to be linked with drug resistance and poor outcomes in various other cancers.

For this study, researchers analyzed 1,173 tumors form the breast cancer TACT trial by performing dual centromeric fluorescence in situ hybridization for chromosomes 2 and 15.

Results showed that during a median follow-up of 91 months, extreme chromosomal instability was associated with improved clinical outcome in patients with ER-negative breast cancer (P trend = 0.03). In addition, researchers found that increasing chromosomal instability was associated with improved outcome in patients with ER-negative/HER2-negative breast cancers (P trend = 0.007).

Identifying patients with extreme chromosomal instability may help to predict prognosis and guide treatment decisions.