Inflammatory breast cancer defined: proposed common diagnostic criteria to guide treatment and research

Purpose Inflammatory breast cancer is a deadly and aggressive type of breast cancer. A key challenge relates to the need for a more detailed, formal, objective definition of IBC, the lack of which compromises clinical care, hampers the conduct of clinical trials, and hinders the search for IBC-specific biomarkers and treatments because of the heterogeneity of patients considered to have IBC. Methods Susan G. Komen, the Inflammatory Breast Cancer Research Foundation, and the Milburn Foundation convened patient advocates, clinicians, and researchers to review the state of IBC and to propose initiatives to advance the field. After literature review of the defining clinical, pathologic, and imaging characteristics of IBC, the experts developed a novel quantitative scoring system for diagnosis. Results The experts identified through consensus several “defining characteristics” of IBC, including factors related to timing of onset and specific symptoms. These reflect common pathophysiologic changes, sometimes detectable on biopsy in the form of dermal lymphovascular tumor emboli and often reflected in imaging findings. Based on the importance and extent of these characteristics, the experts developed a scoring scale that yields a continuous score from 0 to 48 and proposed cut-points for categorization that can be tested in subsequent validation studies. Conclusion To move beyond subjective ‘clinical diagnosis’ of IBC, we propose a quantitative scoring system to define IBC, based on clinical, pathologic, and imaging features. This system is intended to predict outcome and biology, guide treatment decisions and inclusion in clinical trials, and increase diagnostic accuracy to aid basic research; future validation studies are necessary to evaluate its performance.

Circulating PIK3CA mutation detection at diagnosis in non-metastatic inflammatory breast cancer patients

Inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) is an aggressive BC subtype with poor outcomes. A targetable somatic PIK3CA mutation is reported in 30% of IBC, allowing for treatment by PI3Kα-specific inhibitors, such as alpelisib. The aim of this study was to evaluate the detection rate of circulating PIK3CA mutation in locally-advanced IBC (LAIBC) patients harbouring a PIK3CA mutation on initial biopsy. This monocentric retrospective study was based on available stored plasma samples and tumour biopsies at diagnosis from all LAIBC patients treated with neo-adjuvant chemotherapy (NCT) between 2008 and 2018 at the Centre Henri Becquerel. PIK3CA mutations (E542K, E545K, H1047R/L) were assessed by droplet digital PCR (ddPCR) in plasma samples and tumoral tissue at diagnosis. A total of 55 patients were included. Overall, 14/55 patients (25%) had a PIK3CA mutation identified on baseline biopsy (H1047R = 8; H1047L = 3; E545K = 2; E542K = 1). Among them, 11 (79%) patients had enough DNA for circulating DNA analyses, and corresponding circulating PIK3CA mutations were found in 6/11 (55%). Among the 41 patients without PIK3CA mutations on biopsy, 32 (78%) had enough DNA for circulating DNA analysis, and no circulating PIK3CA mutation was identified. Our results revealed no prognostic or predictive value of PIK3CA mutations at the diagnosis of non-metastatic IBC but highlighted the prognostic value of the cfDNA rate at diagnosis. Our study showed that a corresponding circulating PIK3CA mutation was identified in 55% of LAIBC patients with PIK3CA-mutated tumours, while no circulating mutation was found among patients with PI3KCA wild-type tumours.

High endogenous CCL2 expression promotes the aggressive phenotype of human inflammatory breast cancer

Inflammatory Breast Cancer (IBC) is a highly aggressive malignancy with distinct clinical and histopathological features whose molecular basis is unresolved. Here we describe a human IBC cell line, A3250, that recapitulates key IBC features in a mouse xenograft model, including skin erythema, diffuse tumor growth, dermal lymphatic invasion, and extensive metastases. A3250 cells express very high levels of the CCL2 chemokine and induce tumors enriched in macrophages. CCL2 knockdown leads to a striking reduction in macrophage densities, tumor proliferation, skin erythema, and metastasis. These results establish IBC-derived CCL2 as a key factor driving macrophage expansion, and indirectly tumor growth, with transcriptomic analysis demonstrating the activation of multiple inflammatory pathways. Finally, primary human IBCs exhibit macrophage infiltration and an enriched macrophage RNA signature. Thus, this human IBC model provides insight into the distinctive biology of IBC, and highlights potential therapeutic approaches to this deadly disease.

Impacts of Inflammatory Microenvironment on the Development of Cancer Relapse after Combined Treatment

The purpose of the work was to study the impact of certain elements of the inflammatory microenvironment of the tumor on the development of cancer relapse of main localizations with the amplification of ERBB2 after combined treatment. Materials and methods. 80 patients, who had been treated for the period from 2016 to 2021 in National Cancer Institute, Kyiv, Ukraine. They were 42-78 (average 60) years old, ECOG 0-2, female. All patients histologically proved adenocarcinoma GIII-GIV. Everyone was studied for the level of chitinase-like proteins, cryoglobulins, tumor-associated macrophages in the preoperative (with the first identified disease for the first time, prior to the beginning of the neoadjuvant chemotherapy) and in the postoperative period. 1st block: with a confirmed mutation of HER-2/neu gene (amplification ERBB2 (3+)): a) inflammatory breast cancer (primary-edema form) – 10 people, b) diffuse-infiltrative stomach cancer – 10 people; c) diffuse-infiltrative esophagus cancer – 10 people; d) diffuse-infiltrative colorectal cancer – 10 people. 2nd block: without a confirmed mutation of HER-2/neu gene: a) inflammatory breast cancer (primary edema form) – 10 people; b) a diffuse-infiltrative stomach cancer – 10 people; c) diffuse-infiltrative esophageal cancer – 10 people; d) diffuse-infiltrative colorectal cancer – 10 people. Results and discussion. In patients with infiltrative breast cancer, diffuse-infiltrative stomach cancer, and diffuse-infiltrative esophagus cancer, and diffuse-infiltrative colorectal cancer there was a tendency to an increase in the expression of YKL-39 with the ERBB2 amplification during inflammatory tumor infiltration in the stroma. High expression of Stabilin-1 (2.1±0.70, n = 22) was found compared to patient tumors that did not reveal the amplification of ERBB2 (1.46±0.67, n = 13, p = 0.015). In most patients with amplification ERBB2, the cryoglobulin content was average (298.6±2.5 mg/l; 1.3±0.08%) – 20 (50%), which corresponds to cryoglobulinemia type II; with conditioned cryoglobulinemia (79.4±1.01 mg/l) in 10 (25%); high content (477.3±48 mg/l; 3.4±0.2%) was recorded in 10 (25%), which indicates the type III of cryoglobulinemia [the hazard ratio (HR) = 0.71, 95%, сonfidence interval (CI): 0.22-0.83, p = 0.005] Conclusion. Amplification of ERBB2 and macrophages surroundings markers CD68, M2 subpopulation RS1 (Stabilin-1), chitinase-like proteins YKL-39 and SI-CLP independently identified subgroups of patients with inflammatory breast cancer, diffuse stomach and diffuse esophageal, diffuse colorectal cancer with a bad forecast. In patients with the presence of the amplification of ERBB2 in the inflammatory tumor infiltrate, in the stroma, the higher expression of the chitinase-like protein YKL-39 and M2-polarization RS1 of the marker Stabilin-1, was detected compared to the patient's tumors without amplifying ERBB2. This study shows an important role of quantitative values associated with the tumor phenotype and macrophages in tumor progression, depending on the presence of ERBB2 gain. In patients with cryoglobulinemia with inflammatory cancer the secondary immunodeficiency is developed. This is determined by anomalies in the cell and humoral immune system, and leads to the development of postoperative inflammatory complications and relapses