Invasive Ductal Breast Cancer with Osteoclast-Like Giant Cells: A Case Report Based on the Gene Expression Profile for Changes in Management

Abstract

We report the case of a 49-year-old woman diagnosed with a rare histotype of early breast cancer (BC), invasive ductal carcinoma with osteoclast-like giant cells (OGCs), from the perspective of gene profile analysis tests. The patient underwent a quadrantectomy of the right breast with removal of 2 cm neoplastic nodule and three ipsilateral sentinel lymph nodes. The Oncotype Dx gave a recurrence score (RS) of 23, and taking into account the patient’s age, an RS of 23 corresponds to a chemotherapy benefit of 6.5%. After a multidisciplinary collegial discussion, and in consideration of the patient’s age, the absence of comorbidity, the premenopausal state, the rare histotype and the Oncotype Dx report, the patient was offered adjuvant chemotherapy treatment followed by hormone therapy. This case may be an example of the utility of integrating gene expression profiling tests into clinical practice in the adjuvant treatment decision of a rare histotype BC. The Oncotype Dx test required to supplement the histological examination made us opt for the proposal of a combined treatment of adjuvant chemotherapy followed by adjuvant hormone therapy. It demonstrates the importance of considering molecular tests and, in particular, the Oncotype Dx, in estimating the risk of disease recovery at 10 years in order to identify patients who benefit from hormone therapy alone versus those who benefit from the addition of chemotherapy, all with a view toward patient-centered oncology. Here, we discuss the possible validity and limitations of the Oncotype Dx in a rare luminal A-like histotype with high infiltrate of stromal/inflammatory cells.

Osteoclast-like stromal giant cells in invasive ductal breast cancer: A case series

“…In the literature this rare tumour has the same prognosis of other carcinomas with identical grade and stage [1] . However, the prognostic significance of OLGCs in breast cancer is controversial: several authors reported less favourable prognosis related to OLGCs [14] .…”

“…Breast Cancer with osteoclast-like stromal giant cells (OLGCs) is a rare pattern of invasive ductal carcinoma, in the WHO classification with an incidence between 0.5 and 1.2 % [1] . This distinct subtype of breast carcinoma was first described in the French medical literature by Leroux 1932 [2] .…”