Background/AimsMarkers of inflammation have been associated with outcomes in various cancers. The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether systemic inf lammatory markers and their f luctuations can predict survival and chemotherapy response in patients with metastatic gastric cancer (mGC).MethodsWe retrospectively reviewed the records of 502 patients who received first-line palliative chemotherapy for mGC between 2007 and 2013. The neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and modified Glasgow prognostic score (mGPS) were assessed before and after chemotherapy to evaluate their association with survival. The NLR values were categorized into two groups based on a cut-off value of 3; mGPS values were classified as high versus low.ResultsHigh prechemotherapy NLR was significantly associated with poor overall survival on univariate analysis (p = 0.002). On multivariate analysis, high prechemotherapy NLR (hazard ratio, 1.43; p < 0.001) was an independent prognostic factor for poor overall survival. However, the prechemotherapy mGPS was not significantly associated with survival. Continuously high NLR or a shift to high NLR postchemotherapy was associated with poor chemotherapy response as well as survival, while NLR reduction was associated with a good response (linear by linear association, p < 0.001) and a favorable prognosis.ConclusionsPrechemotherapy NLR can be used as a prognostic factor in mGC, while the postchemotherapy NLR value may predict the chemotherapeutic response and prognosis. In contrast, mGPS has limited prognostic utility in mGC.

Breast cancer with stomach metastasis rare with an incidence of 1% or less among metastatic breast cancer patients. We experienced a case of breast cancer metastasizing to the stomach in 65-year-old female patient. She experienced dyspepsia and poor oral intake before visiting the clinic. Diffuse infiltration with nodular mucosal thickening of the stomach wall was observed, suggesting advanced gastric cancer based on gross endoscopic finding. Spread of poorly cohesive tumor cells in the gastric mucosa observed upon hematoxylin and eosin stain resembled signet ring cell carcinoma, but diffuse positive staining for GATA3 in immunohistochemical stain allowed for a conclusive diagnosis of breast cancer metastasizing to the stomach. Based on the final diagnosis, systemic chemotherapy was administered instead of primary surgical resection. After 2 cycles of docetaxel administration, she showed a partial response based on abdominal computed tomography scan. This case is an unusual presentation of breast cancer metastasizing to the gastrointestinal tract.

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Purpose/Objective(s)After taxane and anthracycline failure, no standard chemotherapy regimen is established in metastatic breast cancer (MBC). Capecitabine and cisplatin (XP) combination shows promising results in gastrointestinal cancer, but there are relatively scarce data in MBC. We reviewed the clinical outcome of XP regimen in anthracycline and taxane resistant, heavily pretreated MBC patients.Materials/MethodsBetween Jan. 2010 to Feb. 2016, 48 HER2 negative MBC patients who failed anthracycline and taxane based chemotherapy were enrolled. In 43.8% of patients, more than 4 regimens were administrated before XP. Thirty-four patients (70.8%) were hormone receptor (HR) positive MBC. Patients were treated with XP (capecitabine [2000mg/m2 per oral; day 1–14] plus cisplatin [60mg/m2 IV; day 1], every 3 weeks) regimen.ResultsMedian progression-free survival (PFS) in total population was 4.33 months (range 1.1~33.57 months). HR positive patients showed trends for superior PFS compared to triple negative breast cancer (TNBC), without statistical significance (6.53 vs. 3.83 months, P = 0.168). In HR positive group, patients receiving 3 or less lines of chemotherapy showed superior PFS compared to others (10.1 vs. 3.0 months, P = 0.039). In multivariate analysis, HR positive patients receiving 3 or less lines of regimens still showed superior PFS (HR = 2.624, 95% CI; 1.071~6.43, P = 0.032). Most common toxicity was grade 3–4 neutropenia, without treatment-related deaths.ConclusionsXP combination regimen showed clinical benefit with tolerable toxicity in heavily pretreated patients, including HR positive patients. After anthracycline and taxane failure, early administration of XP regimen in selected patients may have improve clinical outcome in breast cancer.