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Introduction: Neoadjuvant chemotherapy in breast cancer offers the possibility to facilitate breast and axillary surgery; it is a test of chemosensibility in vivo with significant prognostic value and may be used to tailor adjuvant treatment according to the response. Material and Methods: A retrospective single-institution cohort of 482 stage II and III breast cancer patients treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy based on anthracycline and taxans, plus antiHEr2 in Her2-positive cases, was studied. Survival was calculated at 5 and 10 years. Kaplan-Meier curves with a log-rank test were calculated for differences according to age, BRCA status, menopausal status, TNM, pathological and molecular surrogate subtype, 20% TIL cut-off, surgical procedure, response to chemotherapy and the presence of vascular invasion. Results: The pCR rate was 25.3% and was greater in HER2 (51.3%) and TNBC (31.7%) and in BRCA carriers (41.9%). The factors independently related to patient survival were pathology and molecular surrogate subtype, type of surgery, response to NACT and vascular invasion. BRCA status was a protective prognostic factor without reaching statistical significance, with an HR 0.5 (95%CI 0.1-1.4). Mastectomy presented a double risk of distant recurrence compared to breast-conservative surgery (BCS), supporting BCS as a safe option after NACT. After a mean follow-up of 126 (SD 43) months, luminal tumors presented a substantial difference in survival rates calculated at 5 or 10 years (81.2% compared to 74.7%), whereas that for TNBC was 75.3 and 73.5, respectively. The greatest difference was seen according to the response in patients with pCR, who exhibited a 10 years DDFS of 95.5% vs. 72.4% for those patients without pCR, p < 0001. This difference was especially meaningful in TNBC: the 10 years DDFS according to an RCB of 0 to 3 was 100%, 80.6%, 69% and 49.2%, respectively, p < 0001. Patients with a particularly poor prognosis were those with lobular carcinomas, with a 10 years DDFS of 42.9% vs. 79.7% for ductal carcinomas, p = 0.001, and patients with vascular invasion at the surgical specimen, with a 10 years DDFS of 59.2% vs. 83.6% for those patients without vascular invasion, p < 0.001. Remarkably, BRCA carriers presented a longer survival, with an estimated 10 years DDFS of 89.6% vs. 77.2% for non-carriers, p = 0.054. Conclusions: Long-term outcomes after neoadjuvant chemotherapy can help patients and clinicians make well-informed decisions.

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PURPOSE: In patients with clinically lymph node-negative (cN0) breast cancer, performing sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) after neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) has been preferentially embraced in comparison to before NACT. However, survival outcomes associated with both strategies remain understudied. We aimed to compare the axillary lymphadenectomy (ALND) rate, disease-free survival (DFS), and overall survival (OS), between two strategies. METHODS: We included 310 patients in a retrospective observational study. SNLB was performed before NACT from December 2006 to April 2014 (107 cases) and after NACT from May 2014 to May 2020 (203 patients). An inverse probability of treatment weighting (IPTW) method was applied to homogenize both groups. Hazard ratios (HR) and odd ratios (OR) are reported with 95% confidence intervals (95%CI). RESULTS: The lymphadenectomy rate was 29.9% before NACT and 7.4% after NACT (p < 0.001), with an OR of 5.35 95%CI (2.7-10.4); p = .002. After 4 years of follow-up, SLNB after NACT was associated with lower risk for DFS, HR 0.42 95%CI (0.17-1.06); p = 0.066 and better OS, HR 0.21 CI 95% (0.07-0.67); p = 0.009 than SLNB before NACT. After multivariate analysis, independent adverse prognostic factors for OS included SLNB before NACT, HR 3.095 95%CI (2.323-4.123), clinical nonresponse to NACT, HR 1.702 95% CI (1.012-2.861), and small tumors (cT1) with high proliferation index, HR 1.889 95% (1.195-2.985). CONCLUSION: Performing SLNB before NACT results in more ALND and has no benefit for patient survival. These findings support discontinuing the practice of SLNB before NACT in patients with cN0 breast cancer.

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Taxanes are a mainstay of treatment for breast cancer, but resistance often develops followed by metastatic disease and mortality. Aiming to reveal the mechanisms underlying taxane resistance, we used breast cancer patient-derived orthoxenografts (PDX). Mimicking clinical behavior, triple-negative breast tumors (TNBCs) from PDX models were more sensitive to docetaxel than luminal tumors, but they progressively acquired resistance upon continuous drug administration. Mechanistically, we found that a CD49f+ chemoresistant population with tumor-initiating ability is present in sensitive tumors and expands during the acquisition of drug resistance. In the absence of the drug, the resistant CD49f+ population shrinks and taxane sensitivity is restored. We describe a transcriptional signature of resistance, predictive of recurrent disease after chemotherapy in TNBC. Together, these findings identify a CD49f+ population enriched in tumor-initiating ability and chemoresistance properties and evidence a drug holiday effect on the acquired resistance to docetaxel in triple-negative breast cancer.

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Bacillary angiomatosis mainly affects the HIV-infected population. Information is limited on the evolution of bacillary angiomatosis during immune restoration following initiation of HAART. We report an unusual case of fatal Bartonella quintana bacillary angiomatosis occurring in an HIV-infected man during the immune restoration phase.

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OBJECTIVE: To establish the frequency, significance and clinical utility of alpha-methylacyl-CoA racemase (AMACR) expression in the hepatobiliary system by performing a wide immunohistochemical screening of AMACR expression. STUDY DESIGN: A total of 204 neoplastic, preneoplastic and normal samples from the hepatobiliary and pancreatic system were immunohistochemically studied on tissue microarrays for AMACR expression and correlated with clinicopathologic parameters. RESULTS: Hepatocellular carcinomas (HCC) showed intense AMACR expression, which was significantly stronger than in nonmalignant tissues and correlated with good differentiation but not with evolution. Weak AMACR expression was observed in cholangiocarcinomas and preneoplastic pancreatic lesions. HCC showed stronger expression than cholangiocarcinomas and ductal pancreatic adenocarcinomas. DISCUSSION: AMACR is strongly expressed in some neoplastic and preneoplastic lesions of the hepatobiIiary system, mainly HCC, and may play a role in malignant transformation and be useful in the differential diagnosis.

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