ObjectivesThe aim of this study was to explore and understand women's pathways to breast cancer diagnosis and factors influencing this journey.Design and settingIndepth interviews were conducted with clients at a tertiary level breast cancer clinic in Cape Town, South Africa. A thematic analysis was performed underpinned by the theoretical concepts of the Model of Pathways to Treatment framework.Participants20 women were interviewed within 1 week of being diagnosed with breast cancer.ResultsThe average time between discovery of bodily changes to breast cancer diagnosis was 8.5 months. Deficits in breast self-awareness and knowledge of breast cancer symptoms delayed women's interpretation of bodily changes as being abnormal. All women first noticed breast lumps; however, many did not perceive it as abnormal until additional symptoms were present. General good health, attribution of symptoms to ageing, and past benign breast disease resulted in women being complacent about bodily changes. Disclosure to family members served as a trigger to seek healthcare. The initial type of primary level care services women accessed was influenced by perceptions of care each service provided, finances, structural factors, and personal safety related to the physical location of services.ConclusionsSymptom appraisal and interpretation contributed significantly to delayed presentation. To improve timely diagnosis of breast cancer, interventions that increase women's confidence in detecting breast changes, improve knowledge of breast cancer symptoms, address myths, and encourage prompt help-seeking behaviour are required.

BackgroundTypically, women in South Africa (SA) are diagnosed with breast cancer when they self-present with symptoms to health facilities. The aim of this study was to determine the pathway that women follow to breast cancer care and factors associated with this journey.MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted at a tertiary hospital in the Western Cape Province, SA, between May 2015 and May 2016. Newly diagnosed breast cancer patients were interviewed to determine their socio-demographic profile; knowledge of risk factors, signs and symptoms; appraisal of breast changes; clinical profile and; key time events in the journey to care. The Model of Pathways to Treatment Framework underpinned the analysis. The total time (TT) between a woman noticing the first breast change and the date of scheduled treatment was divided into 3 intervals: the patient interval (PI); the diagnostic interval (DI) and the pre-treatment interval (PTI). For the PI, DI and PTI a bivariate comparison of median time intervals by various characteristics was conducted using Wilcoxon rank-sum and Kruskal-Wallis tests. Cox Proportional-Hazards models were used to identify factors independently associated with the PI, DI and PTI.ResultsThe median age of the 201 participants was 54 years, and 22% presented with late stage disease. The median TT was 110 days, with median patient, diagnostic and pre-treatment intervals of 23, 28 and 37 days respectively. Factors associated with the PI were: older age (Hazard ratio (HR) 0.59, 95% CI 0.40–0.86), initial symptom denial (HR 0.43, 95% CI 0.19–0.97) and waiting for a lump to increase in size before seeking care (HR 0.51, 95% CI 0.33–0.77). Women with co-morbidities had a significantly longer DI (HR 0.67, 95% CI 0.47–0.96) as did women who mentioned denial of initial breast symptoms (HR 4.61, 95% CI 1.80–11.78). The PTI was associated with late stage disease at presentation (HR 1.78, 95% CI 1.15–2.76).ConclusionThe Model of Pathways to Treatment provides a useful framework to explore patient’s journeys to care and identified opportunities for targeted interventions.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s12885-018-4219-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Breast cancer remains one of the leading causes of cancer-associated death worldwide. Conventional treatment is associated with substantial toxicity and suboptimal efficacy. We, therefore, developed and evaluated the in vitro efficacy of an autologous dendritic cell (DC) vaccine to treat breast cancer. We recruited 12 female patients with stage 1, 2, or 3 breast cancer and matured their DCs with autologous tumour-specific lysate, a toll-like receptor (TLR)-3 and 7/8 agonist, and an interferon-containing cocktail. The efficacy of the vaccine was evaluated by its ability to elicit a cytotoxic T-lymphocyte response to autologous breast cancer cells in vitro. Matured DCs (≥ 60% upregulation of CD80, CD86, CD83, and CCR7) produced high levels of the Th1 effector cytokine, IL12-p70 (1.2 ng/ml; p < 0.0001), compared to DCs pulsed with tumour lysate, or matured with an interferon-containing cocktail alone. We further showed that matured DCs enhance antigen-specific CD8 + T-cell responses to HER-2 (4.5%; p < 0.005) and MUC-1 (19%; p < 0.05) tetramers. The mature DCs could elicit a robust and dose-dependent antigen-specific cytotoxic T-lymphocyte response (65%) which was tumoricidal to autologous breast cancer cells in vitro compared to T-lymphocytes that were primed with autologous lysate loaded-DCs (p < 0.005). Lastly, we showed that the mature DCs post-cryopreservation maintained high viability, maintained their mature phenotype, and remained free of endotoxins or mycoplasma. We have developed a DC vaccine that is cytotoxic to autologous breast cancer cells in vitro. The tools and technology generated here will now be applied to a phase I/IIa clinical trial.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1007/s00262-018-2238-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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