@article{3033940,
    title = "mRNA expression of specific HER ligands and their association with
clinical outcome in patients with metastatic breast cancer treated with
trastuzumab",
    author = "Rapti, Vassiliki and Moirogiorgou, Evangelia and Koliou, and Georgia-Angeliki and Papadopoulou, Kyriaki and Binas, Ioannis and and Pentheroudakis, George and Bafaloukos, Dimitrios and Bobos, Mattheos and and Chatzopoulos, Kyriakos and Chrisafi, Sofia and Christodoulou, Christos and and Nicolaou, Irene and Sotiropoulou, Maria and Magkou, Christina and and Koutras, Angelos and Papakostas, Pavlos and Kotsakis, Athanasios and and Razis, Evangelia and Psyrri, Amanda and Tryfonopoulos, Dimitrios and and Pectasides, Dimitrios and Res, Eleni and Alexopoulos, Athanasios and and Kotoula, Vassiliki and Fountzilas, George",
    journal = "Oncology Letters",
    year = "2022",
    volume = "23",
    number = "1",
    publisher = "SPANDIDOS PUBL LTD",
    issn = "1792-1074, 1792-1082",
    doi = "10.3892/ol.2021.13141",
    keywords = "metastatic breast cancer; trastuzumab; biomarkers; HER2; HER ligands",
    abstract = "Prognostic and predictive biomarkers are being studied for the diagnosis
and treatment of breast cancer. The present study retrospectively
assessed the mRNA expression of HER family receptor ligands and of other
potential prognostic biomarkers and their association with time to
progression (TTP), survival and clinicopathological characteristics in
patients with metastatic breast cancer (MBC) treated with trastuzumab. A
total of 145 tumour tissue samples were analysed. mRNA expression
analysis of the transcripts of interest was performed and the
association of these markers with selected clinicopathological
parameters was examined. HER2 status was centrally re-evaluated. Only
67.6% of patients were truly HER2-positive according to the central
HER2 re-evaluation. Heparin binding epidermal growth factor (EGF)-like
growth factor, transforming growth factor beta 1 (TGFB1) and thyroid
hormone receptor alpha (THRA) mRNA expression was higher in
HER2-positive patients (P=0.026, P<0.001 and P<0.001). Insulin-like
growth factor binding protein 4 was correlated with retinoic acid
receptor alpha, TGFB1 and THRA (rho=0.45, rho=0.60 and rho=0.45). In
HER2-positive patients, high neuregulin 1 and high betacellulin were
unfavourable factors for TTP [hazard ratio (HR) = 1.78, P=0.040 and
HR=2.00, P=0.043, respectively]. In patients with de novo MBC, high EGF
expression was associated with a non-significant prolongation of TTP
(HR=0.52, P=0.080) and significantly longer survival (HR=0.40, P=0.020).
The present study examined clinical and biological implications of
specific genes and it was concluded that their expression has an impact
on the outcome of trastuzumab-treated patients with MBC."
}