Prospective cohort study using the breast cancer spheroid model as a predictor for response to neoadjuvant therapy--the SpheroNEO study

Background Aim of this prospective study was to predict response to neoadjuvant therapy in breast cancer patients using an in vitro breast cancer spheroid model. Methods Three-dimensional spheroids were directly generated from fresh breast tumor biopsies of 78 patients eligible for neoadjuvant therapy. Cell survival was measured after in vitro exposure to the equivalent therapeutic agents in the breast cancer spheroid model. Treatment results in vitro were correlated with pathological complete response (pCR, i.e. ypT0 ypN0) determined at surgery. Results A mean cell survival of 21.8 % was found in the breast cancer spheroid model for 22 patients with pCR versus 63.8 % in 56 patients without pCR (P = .001). The area under the receiver operator characteristic curve to predict pCR was 0.86 (95 % CI: 0.77 to 0.96) for cell survival in vitro compared to 0.80 (95 % CI: 0.70 to 0.90) for a combined model of conventional factors (hormone- and HER2 receptor, and age). A cutoff at 35 % cell survival for the spheroid model was proposed. Out of the 32 patients with values below this threshold, 21 patients (65.6 %) and one patient (2.2 %) with a cell survival greater than 35 % achieved pCR respectively; (sensitivity 95.5 % (95 % CI: 0.86 to 1.00); specificity 80.4 % (95 % CI: 0.70 to 0.91)). Extent of residual disease positively correlated with increased cell survival (P = .021). Conclusion The breast cancer spheroid model proved to be a highly sensitive and specific predictor for pCR after neoadjuvant chemotherapy in breast cancer patients

Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy in Breast Cancer Patients by Means of Indocyanine Green Using the Karl Storz VITOM® Fluorescence Camera

Currently, the use of radioisotope and blue dye for sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) for axillary staging in breast cancer is common. Recently, indocyanine green (ICG) has been proposed as an alternative sentinel lymph node (SLN) tracking agent. We evaluated the clinical value of ICG as an additional tracer in combination with Technetium99m and as an alternative to Technetium99m for the identification of SLN in 104 breast cancer patients. 21 patients had at least 1 histologically tumor-positive SLN. All 21 patients were detected by ICG; in one of these 21 sentinel-positive patients, Technetium99m was unable to identify lymph node involvement. Our results show that ICG is as effective as the radioisotope for SLNB. In addition, as a near-infrared dye, it has the advantages of real-time visualization, lower cost, and wider availability, since no radioactive material needs to be handled. This trial is registered with German Clinical Trial Register Main ID: DRKS00013606

Bevacizumab and platinum-based combinations for recurrent ovarian cancer: a randomised, open-label, phase 3 trial

International audienceState-of-the art therapy for recurrent ovarian cancer suitable for platinum-based re-treatment includes bevacizumab-containing combinations (eg, bevacizumab combined with carboplatin-paclitaxel or carboplatin-gemcitabine) or the most active non-bevacizumab regimen: carboplatin-pegylated liposomal doxorubicin. The aim of this head-to-head trial was to compare a standard bevacizumab-containing regimen versus carboplatin-pegylated liposomal doxorubicin combined with bevacizumab