Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0278488 (metastatic breast cancer)
 7,812 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Concentrations of soluble CD44 standard (sCD44std) and CD44 variant 6 (sCD44v6) isoforms were determined in the sera of 59 patients with distant metastasis from breast cancer receiving second line hormone- or chemotherapy, in comparison to 46 breast cancer patients without detectable recurrent disease and 21 healthy blood donors. The sera of non-metastatic breast cancer, patients contained sCD44std and sCD44v6 concentrations similiar to those of healthy blood donors. In sera of patients with distant metastasis from recurrent breast cancer the median values of sCD44std and sCD44v6 were significantly higher (sCD44std: 502 ng/ml, p=0.03; sCD44v6: 193 ng/ml, p = 0.002) in comparison to healthy blood donors and patients with non-metastatic disease (p<0.001 for both parameters). A significant correlation was observed between sCD44v6 serum concentrations and the number of metastasized organs (p=0.0018), serum LDH concentrations (p<0.0001), tumor grading (p=0.025) and the presence of hepatic metastasis (p=0.028). Furthermore, sCD44v6 expression was associated with the patient's responsiveness to second line hormone- or chemotherapy. Non-responders had significantly higher sCD44v6 levels compared with the responder group (median: 447 ng/ml vs 171 ng/ml; p=0.0007). Logistic regression analysis indicated that sCD44v6 serum levels above 250 ng/ml (p =0.033) and the presence of hepatic metastasis (p=0.009) were independent factors predicting an unfavourable response to therapy.
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PMID:Predictive relevance of soluble CD44v6 serum levels for the responsiveness to second line hormone- or chemotherapy in patients with metastatic breast cancer. 1171

CD44 is an adhesion molecule involved in tumor cell invasion and metastasis. The function of CD44 in breast cancer is not understood completely, or is its role as a predictive or prognostic factor. In this study, we tested for the hypothesis that the concentration of soluble CD44 (sCD44) in serum is correlated with clinicopathological factors, especially HER2, and survival in patients with breast cancer. We retrospectively identified 110 patients with breast cancer who had been treated at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center (MDACC) from September 2001 to May 2004. Sera were collected before definitive surgery in patients with stage I or II breast cancer, before initiation of neoadjuvant chemotherapy (if indicated) for patients with stage I-III breast cancer, and before initiation of systemic therapy in patients with stage IV breast cancer. sCD44 levels were determined using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The median age at diagnosis was 51 years (range, 28.6-87.1 years). sCD44 concentration was correlated with tumor stage (P = 0.0308). sCD44 serum concentration did not predict pathological response in patients treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Among patients with distant metastases, sCD44 levels were significantly higher in patients with liver involvement than in patients with metastases at other sites. The overall survival rate did not differ between patients with high sCD44 concentration and patients with low sCD44 concentration. However, sCD44 concentration was a significant predictor of overall survival for patients with HER2-positive breast cancer, while no difference in overall survival rates was observed in patients with HER2-negative breast cancer. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to show an association between circulating sCD44 levels and survival in HER2-positive breast cancer patients. Our results suggest a role for sCD44 as a prognostic marker. Furthermore, sCD44 level may offer a new clinical therapeutic target in HER2-positive breast cancer.
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PMID:Serum CD44 levels and overall survival in patients with HER2-positive breast cancer. 2183 16