Increased risk of breast cancer development after diagnosis of salivary gland tumour

Effectiveness and risk of second primary malignancies after radiotherapy in major salivary gland carcinomas: A retrospective study using SEER database

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the effectiveness of radiotherapy and its association with second primary malignancies (SPMs) risk in major salivary gland carcinomas (MSGCs) patients.

METHODS

Cohort 1 included 7274 surgically treated MSGC patients from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database, assessing the effectiveness of radiotherapy. Cohort 2 (n = 4213) comprised patients with ≥5-year survival in Cohort 1 to study SPMs.

RESULTS

Radiotherapy decreased overall survival in MSGCs patients, but improved it in high-grade MSGCs. Cumulative SPMs incidences at 25 years were 16.5% in the radiotherapy (RT) group compared to 14.5% in the non-radiotherapy (NRT) group. For second head and neck carcinomas (SHNCs), incidences were 3.4% in RT versus 1.6% in NRT. Radiotherapy increased the relative risks of tumors, particularly SHNCs (RR = 1.78). The 10-year OS rates of SHNCs after radiotherapy were significantly lower.

CONCLUSION

Radiotherapy improves survival in advanced-stage MSGCs but increases the risk of developing SPMs, particularly SHNCs.

The Discovery of New Drug-Target Interactions for Breast Cancer Treatment

Drug–target interaction (DTIs) prediction plays a vital role in probing new targets for breast cancer research. Considering the multifaceted challenges associated with experimental methods identifying DTIs, the in silico prediction of such interactions merits exploration. In this study, we develop a feature-based method to infer unknown DTIs, called PsePDC-DTIs, which fuses information regarding protein sequences extracted by pseudo-position specific scoring matrix (PsePSSM), detrended cross-correlation analysis coefficient (DCCA coefficient), and an FP2 format molecular fingerprint descriptor of drug compounds. In addition, the synthetic minority oversampling technique (SMOTE) is employed for dealing with the imbalanced data after Lasso dimensionality reduction. Then, the processed feature vectors are put into a random forest classifier to perform DTIs predictions on four gold standard datasets, including nuclear receptors (NR), G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCR), ion channels (IC), and enzymes (E). Furthermore, we explore new targets for breast cancer treatment using its risk genes identified from large-scale genome-wide genetic studies using PsePDC-DTIs. Through five-fold cross-validation, the average values of accuracy in NR, GPCR, IC, and E datasets are 95.28%, 96.19%, 96.74%, and 98.22%, respectively. The PsePDC-DTIs model provides us with 10 potential DTIs for breast cancer treatment, among which erlotinib (DB00530) and FGFR2 (hsa2263), caffeine (DB00201) and KCNN4 (hsa3783), as well as afatinib (DB08916) and FGFR2 (hsa2263) are found with direct or inferred evidence. The PsePDC-DTIs model has achieved good prediction results, establishing the validity and superiority of the proposed method.

Malignant salivary gland tumours in families with breast cancer susceptibility

Salivary gland cancers (SGCs) are rare malignancies with highly heterogeneous histological features. Patients affected with SGCs are at increased risk of secondary malignancies, including breast cancer (BC). Previous studies enlightened a possible link between SGCs and hereditary predisposition to BC. Here, we searched for SGC-affected patients in 1796 high-risk BC families recruited at the Genetic Unit of the Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori of Milan, 516 of which carried pathogenic variants in BRCA1 and/or BRCA2, the main genetic risk factors for BC. We detected five families with an individual affected with SGC, including two male patients, one carrying a constitutional mutation in BRCA1 and the other in BRCA2. Loss of heterozygosity of BRCA wild-type alleles was assessed in the patients' tumour DNA. We conclude that our observations support the hypothesis that genetic factors associated with BC susceptibility might play a role also in at least a subset of SGCs.

Risk of second primary malignancy after minor salivary gland cancer: A Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database analysis

BACKGROUND

Minor salivary gland cancer (MiSGC) is a group of tumors with varied disease course in the head and neck. We evaluated the risk of a second primary malignancy (SPM) in MiSGC patients and identified possible prognostic factors for survival using a large population database.

METHODS

We used the National Cancer Institute's Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) data to evaluate the risk and prognosis of SPM in patients diagnosed with MiSGC.

RESULTS

The risk of SPM increased in MiSGC patients compared with the endemic rate. The risk of SPM was slightly greater in female patients and who underwent radiotherapy. Age at primary diagnosis, sex, race, year of diagnosis, SEER stage, radiotherapy, SPM, histology, and tumor site were significant survival prognostic indicators of MiSGC patients.

CONCLUSION

Radiotherapy and female sex were risk factors for SPM after MiSGC. Long-term surveillance for SPM was important in MiSGC patients.

Risk of breast cancer in women after a salivary gland carcinoma or pleomorphic adenoma in the Netherlands

Salivary and mammary gland tumors show morphological similarities and share various characteristics, including frequent overexpression of hormone receptors and female preponderance. Although this may suggest a common etiology, it remains unclear whether patients with a salivary gland tumor carry an increased risk of breast cancer (BC). Our purpose was to determine the risk of BC in women diagnosed with salivary gland carcinoma (SGC) or pleomorphic adenoma (SGPA). BC incidence (invasive and in situ) was assessed in two nationwide cohorts: one comprising 1567 women diagnosed with SGC and one with 2083 women with SGPA. BC incidence was compared with general population rates using standardized incidence ratio (SIR). BC risk was assessed according to age at SGC/SGPA diagnosis, follow‐up time and (for SGC patients) histological subtype. The mean follow‐up was 7.0 years after SGC and 9.9 after SGPA diagnosis. During follow‐up, 52 patients with SGC and 74 patients with SGPA developed BC. The median time to BC was 6 years after SGC and 7 after SGPA. The cumulative risk at 10 years of follow‐up was 3.1% after SGC and 3.5% after SGPA (95% Confidence Interval (95%CI) 2.1%–4.7% and 2.6%–4.6%, respectively). BC incidence was 1.59 times (95%CI 1.19–2.09) higher in the SGC‐cohort than expected based on incidence rates in the general population. SGPA‐patients showed a 1.48 times (95%CI 1.16–1.86) higher incidence. Women with SGC or SGPA have a slightly increased risk of BC. The magnitude of risk justifies raising awareness, but is no reason for BC screening.

Acinic cell carcinoma of the parotid gland in pregnancy: an approach to cancer in pregnancy

A 27-year-old woman presented with an enlarging painless right preauricular mass at 28 weeks' pregnant. The mass had been stable for more than 10 years, but showed rapid growth during pregnancy. Imaging and biopsy were consistent with parotid gland malignancy, with surgical resection undertaken at 33+4 weeks' gestation. Histopathology confirmed acinic cell carcinoma. Labour was induced without complication at 36+6 weeks' gestation and adjuvant radiotherapy commenced 2 weeks postpartum. At 9 months follow-up, both mother and baby were well, with no signs of disease recurrence. Rapid progression in pregnancy, of a previously stable salivary gland mass, is a common feature among reported cases and was also observed in the current case. This suggests an aetiological link between pregnancy and salivary gland tumour progression. We demonstrate successful management of a parotid gland malignancy in pregnancy and review guiding principles for cancer management in pregnancy.

Risk of Development of Second Primary Head and Neck Cancer following an Index Breast Cancer

Objective Many head and neck cancers (HNCs) have genomic features seen in breast malignancy. We sought to analyze the risk of second primary HNC following an index breast cancer. Study Design Retrospective cohort study. Setting National database from the SEER registry (Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results). Subjects and Methods Within the SEER database, 223,423 women diagnosed with index breast cancer from 1992 to 2002 were identified. We calculated standard incidence ratios (SIRs) for all head and neck sites with 10-year follow-up. Results Women diagnosed with an index breast cancer did not exhibit higher likelihood of developing second primary HNC (SIR = 0.99; 95% CI, 0.90-1.07). The risk was determined for each subsite of the head and neck, and salivary gland cancer presented the highest risk. Patients with index breast cancer were 83% more likely to develop salivary gland cancer than what would be expected in the general population (SIR = 1.83; 95% CI, 1.49-2.22). An overall trend of increased risk was observed for salivary gland cancers between 1992 and 2002. There was no significant higher risk observed for the other head and neck subsites. Conclusion Patients with index breast cancer did not have a higher-than-expected risk of developing HNC. We did find an increased incidence of salivary gland cancers among patients with index breast cancer. Patients were 80% more likely to develop salivary gland cancer than that expected within the population. These findings warrant further investigation on the relationship between salivary gland and breast malignancy.

Second primary cancer after major salivary gland carcinoma

BACKGROUND

We investigated the risk of second primary cancers after major salivary gland carcinoma in Finland, with a population of 5.5 million.

METHODS

Nationwide cancer registry data were used to identify patients with major salivary gland carcinoma diagnosed between 1953 and 2014. Standardized incidence ratios (SIRs) were estimated to compare their second primary cancer risk with the respective site-specific cancer risk in the general population.

RESULTS

There were 1727 patients with major salivary gland carcinomas and 222 second primary cancers had been diagnosed in these patients (SIR 1.43). The risk was increased for cancers of the thyroid (SIR 5.12), breast (SIR 1.63), respiratory organs (SIR 1.63), male genital organs (SIR 1.48), melanoma of the skin (SIR 3.35), and nonmelanoma skin cancer (SIR 2.50). The risk was high during the first 5 years and after 20 years of diagnosis.

CONCLUSION

Second primary cancers can occur among patients with major salivary gland carcinoma even after a long time period. This needs to be recognized in the follow-up of these patients.

Salivary gland pleomorphic adenoma in the Netherlands: A nationwide observational study of primary tumor incidence, malignant transformation, recurrence, and risk factors for recurrence

INTRODUCTION

Whereas salivary gland pleomorphic adenoma (SGPA) is the most common type of salivary gland tumor, little is known about its epidemiology because national cancer registries do not register this disease.

OBJECTIVES

To establish SGPA incidence trends, rates of secondary malignant transformation and recurrence and associated factors in the Netherlands.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Data on incidence, epidemiology, secondary malignant transformation and recurrence were retrieved from the Dutch pathology registry (PALGA) for the years 1992, 1997, 2002, 2007, and 2012. Multivariate analysis was performed to discover the risk factors for recurrence.

RESULTS

3506 cases of SGPA were recorded implying an overall European standardized rate of 4.2-4.9 per 100,000 person-years. Our figures showed a female preponderance (1:1.43) with an annual 1% rise in female incidence (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.2-1.8) and a bimodal age distribution in women (p<0.0001). The overall 20-year recurrence rate was 6.7%, and median time to first recurrence was 7years. Positive and uncertain resection margins and younger age at diagnosis were risk factors for recurrence, with odds ratios (ORs) of 4.62 (95%CI 2.84-7.51), 4.08 (95%CI 2.24-7.43), and 0.42 (95%CI 0.29-0.63) respectively. Tumor locations in the minor salivary glands had lower odds of recurrence than tumors in the parotid (OR 0.24; 95% CI: 0.07-0.77; p<0.016). Malignant transformation occurred in 0.15% of SGPAs (3.2% of recurrences).

CONCLUSION

This first nationwide study clearly showed sex differences in SGPA epidemiology, possibly suggesting some underlying hormonal mechanism. Long-term recurrence risks were low, and secondary malignant transformation risks were very low.

Salivary gland carcinomas, paranasal sinus cancers and melanoma of the head and neck: an update about rare but challenging tumors

PURPOSE OF REVIEW

This is a review about recent clinical developments in rare cancers of the head and neck.

RECENT FINDINGS

Progress in molecular biology techniques has allowed the identification of new prognostic factors, and potential molecular-targeted therapies. This is of importance since chemotherapy continues to play a role but is still limited in this group of malignancies. New techniques of irradiation such as intensity-modulated radiotherapy and three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy appear to improve the locoregional control of these tumors. Surgery continues to be the cornerstone of treatment, with a growing interest in the technique of sentinel lymph node biopsy.

SUMMARY

As salivary gland carcinomas, paranasal sinus cancers and melanoma of the head and neck are rare malignancies, these tumors must be treated in specialized anticancer centers with access to the latest surgical and irradiation techniques. Moreover, clinical studies with translational research are needed to identify strong prognostic and predictive factors, and effective molecular-targeted therapies.