Differences between #malebreastcancer and female breast cancers identified

Exciting news today from the 10th European Breast Cancer Conference!

Here is a quote from today’s exciting announcement/presentation about the biology of male breast cancer:

Speaking at the 10th European Breast Cancer Conference (EBCC-10) today (Thursday), Dr Carolien van Deurzen, MD, a pathologist specialising in breast cancer at the Erasmus Medical Centre, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, reported results from a study [1] of the relationship between the pathology of different types of Male BC and their prognosis. The study forms part of the International Male Breast Cancer Program, led by the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) in Europe and the Translational Breast Cancer Research Consortium (TBCRC) in the USA. The team of researchers examined 1203 tumour samples from Male BC patients who made up part of the largest series of this disease ever collected linked to outcome data — 1483 patients from 23 centres in nine countries.

“Besides conventional tumour tissue characteristics, such as subtype and grade, we also examined additional features, such as the development of fibrotic connective tissue, and the density of tumour infiltrating lymphocytes, a type of white blood cell often found in tumours and implicated in killing tumour cells,” she said. “Interestingly, we found that these two last factors were strongly associated with outcomes in Male BC, whereas tumour grade, a commonly used prognostic measure in female breast cancer was not.”

This finding, to be published in due course, comes from the EORTC 10085/TBRC/BIG/NABG International Male Breast Cancer Program which has assembled the largest retrospective collection of male breast cancers, and is now working on a prospective cohort. DISCLOSURE: I serve as patient advocate for this program.