Rapid Extensive Recurrence of Triple Negative Breast Cancer: Are Both Therapy and Cancer Biology the Culprit?

Rapid Extensive Recurrence of Triple Negative Breast Cancer: Are Both Therapy and Cancer Biology the Culprit? J Clin Med Res. 2016 Feb;8(2):162-7 Authors: Vyas D, Deshpande K, Chaturvedi L, Gieric L, Ching K Abstract Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) comprises 17-20% of all breast cancers and is one of the most common breast cancers. The lack of therapy and failure of existing therapy has been a challenge for clinicians. Doxorubicin (DOX) is the first-line therapy, however, it has significant limitations. Rapid extensive recurrence with metastasis in any cancer has been a challenge for surgeons and medical oncologists. The challenge can be due to failure of therapy, drug resistance, or epigenetic changes. Here, we are discussing a stage I breast cancer patient, operated and treated with appropriate chemotherapy with complete response, which recurred in less than 8 months and metastasized to bone, liver and other organs. We are also presenting lab data of the IL-6 secretions on exposure to DOX in one of the most commonly used TNBC cell lines MDA-MB-231. Breast cancer cell line MDA-MB-231 upon exposure to DOX shows an increase in IL-6 levels more than the already elevated IL-6 levels. This might be a reason for early recurrence. We concluded that patients with TNBC might benefit from a standard DOX treatment regimen with an inflammation-blocking agent. PMID: 26767086 [PubMed]
Source: Clinical Breast Cancer - Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Tags: J Clin Med Res Source Type: research