Significance of ABO-Rh blood groups in response and prognosis in breast cancer patients treated with radiotherapy and chemotherapy

The frequency and prognostic significance of ABO/Rh blood groups in male breast cancer patients: A multicenter study

The study evaluated the distributions and prognostic significance of ABO and rhesus (D) groups in male breast cancer (MBC) patients. The data of 137 patients were retrospectively reviewed. Clinical, histopathological data and ABO/Rh blood groups of the patients were recorded. The ABO/Rh blood group distributions were compared to the healthy men control group (n = 120,160) by the chi-square test. Overall distributions of ABO blood groups were different between the patients (17.5% AB, 38% A, 19% B, and 25.5% O) and control group (7.88% AB, 42.06% A, 15.22% B, and 34.84% O) (P < .001). There were significant differences between the patients and control group with respect to AB vs non-AB blood group distributions (P < .001, odds ratio: 2.43, 95% CI) and O vs non-O blood group distributions (P = .016, odds ratio: 0.62, 95% CI). However, A vs non-A and B vs non-B blood group distributions were not significantly different. The distribution of the Rh factor was similar between patients and the control group (P = .93). In univariate analysis, ABO/Rh blood groups were not a prognostic factor on OS (P = .29). The frequency of the AB blood group in MBC patients is increased than in the healthy control group. AB blood group may be a risk factor for MBC, whereas O blood group may be a protective factor.

Role of Metastatic Lymph Nodes to Totally Removed Lymph Nodes Ratio in Breast Cancer?

Aim

To determine prognostic ratio of metastatic lymph nodes to totally removed lymph nodes (MLN/TRLN) on overall and progression-free survival with diagnosis of breast cancer.

Material and method

Radiation Oncology department of Kayseri Training and Research Hospital, relationship of MLN/TRLN between prognosis and other prognostic factors was evaluated in T1-3 and N1-3 non-metastatic breast cancer patients.

Results

Two hundred female patients and 5 male patients with an average age of 56 years were enrolled in this study. Of all patients, 63.4% of the patients were postmenopausal and modified radical mastectomy was performed in 96.6% of them. While 93.2% of the patients were diagnosed with invasive ductal carcinoma, 52.7% of them had clinical N1 disease, 62% of them were staged as T2, 94% of them received chemotherapy and 57.1% of them received hormonal therapy. Metastatic lymph node ratio below 0.2 was 48.8%, between 0.21–0.65 it was 35.1% and above 0.65% it was 16.1%. Five-year Overall survival and progression-free survival rates were 76% and 58% respectively. Statistically significant difference was found between MLN/TRLN and age (p = 0.044), chemotherapy (p = 0.039), pathological lymph nodes (p <0.001) according to Pearson's Chi-Squared test. Factor affecting overall survival was Progesterone receptor status (p = 0.021) and for progression-free survival they were gender (p = 0.003) and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (p = 0.018). Univariate and multivariate analysis found that gender (p = 0.04, OR 5.9, CI: 1.7–19.6) and lymph node (p = 0.05, OR: 1.4, CI: 0.9–2.1) were significant factors affecting progression-free survival.

Conclusion

MLN/TRLN was shown to have no effect on prognosis in non-metastatic breast cancer patients due to small number of patients and short follow-up period.

ABO blood groups as a prognostic factor for recurrence in ovarian and vulvar cancer

The relationship between ABO blood groups (BG) and risk of incidence in cancers including gynecological cancers has been widely studied, showing increased incidence risk for BG A patients. As available data are inconsistent we investigated whether BG and their anti-glycan antibodies (anti-A and anti-B) have prognostic values in gynecological cancers. We retrospectively evaluated 974 patients with gynecological cancers in three cancer centers (Switzerland and Australia) between 1974 and 2014 regarding the relationships between clinico-pathological findings and the BG. Time to disease recurrence was significantly influenced by BG in patients with ovarian (n = 282) and vulvar (n = 67) cancer. BG O or B patients showed a significantly increased risk for ovarian cancer relapse compared to A, 59% and 82%, respectively (p = 0.045; HR O vs A = 1.59 (CI 1.01-2.51) and (p = 0.036; HR A vs B = 0.55 (CI 0.32-0.96). Median time to relapse for advanced stage (n = 126) ovarian cancer patients was 18.2 months for BG O and 32.2 for A (p = 0.031; HR O vs A = 2.07 (CI 1.07-4.02)). BG also significantly influenced relapse-free survival in patients with vulvar cancer (p = 0.002), with BG O tending to have increased relapse risk compared to A (p = 0.089). Blood groups hence associate with recurrence in ovarian and vulvar cancer: women with BG O seem to have a lower ovarian cancer incidence, however are more likely to relapse earlier. The significance of the BG status as a prognostic value is evident and may be helpful to oncologists in prognosticating disease outcome and selecting the appropriate therapy.

Can 9q34.2 rs633862 polymorphism predict survival in epithelial ovarian cancer?

Objective

Our previous genome-wide association study (GWAS) identified that the ABO rs633862 variant in chromosome 9q34.2 was associated with the risk of epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) in Chinese Han women. The aim of the present study was to evaluate its prognostic effect on EOC.

Methods

A total of 669 EOC patients were enrolled for the genotyping of rs633862 variant in 9q34.2. We used Kaplan–Meier survival curves, univariate and multivariate Cox proportional hazard models to evaluate the association of rs633862 with overall survival (OS) in EOC patients.

Results

We found that rs633862 variant AG/GG genotypes were significantly associated with a longer OS by using univariate Cox proportional hazards regression analysis, compared with the rs633862 AA genotype (HR = 0.69, 95% CI [0.49–0.98], p = 0.035), albeit with a boardline significance in the multivariate analysis. Similar findings were observed in the subgroup of high-grade serous ovarian carcinoma. Further expression quantitative trait loci (eQTL) analysis indicated that the rs633862 AA genotype was associated with an increased level of ABO mRNA expression (p = 1.8 × 10⁻¹¹).

Conclusions

Supplementary to the previous GWAS, our study provides additional evidence on the prognostic value of the 9q34.2 rs633862 variant in EOC patients, and this variant may function by regulating the ABO mRNA expression.

Blood type, ABO genetic variants, and ovarian cancer survival

OBJECTIVE

Blood type A and the A1 allele have been associated with increased ovarian cancer risk. With only two small studies published to date, evidence for an association between ABO blood type and ovarian cancer survival is limited.

METHODS

We conducted a retrospective cohort study of Tumor Registry confirmed ovarian cancer cases from the Vanderbilt University Medical Center with blood type from linked laboratory reports and ABO variants from linked Illumina Exome BeadChip data. Associations with overall survival (OS) were quantified by hazard ratios (HR) and confidence intervals (CI) from proportional hazards regression models; covariates included age, race, stage, grade, histologic subtype, and year of diagnosis.

RESULTS

ABO phenotype (N = 694) and/or genotype (N = 154) data were available for 713 predominantly Caucasian (89.3%) cases. In multivariable models, blood type A had significantly better OS compared to either O (HR: 0.75, 95% CI: 0.60-0.93) or all non-A (HR: 0.77, 95% CI: 0.63-0.94) cases. Similarly, missense rs1053878 minor allele carriers (A2) had better OS (HR: 0.50, 95% CI: 0.25-0.99). Among Caucasians, this phenotype association was strengthened, but the genotype association was attenuated; instead, four variants sharing moderate linkage disequilibrium with the O variant were associated with better OS (HR: 0.62, 95% CI: 0.39-0.99) in unadjusted models.

CONCLUSIONS

Blood type A was significantly associated with longer ovarian cancer survival in the largest such study to date. This finding was supported by genetic analysis, which implicated the A2 allele, although O related variants also had suggestive associations. Further research on ABO and ovarian cancer survival is warranted.

Association of ABO and Rh blood groups with breast cancer

Objectives

The aim of this study was to determine the association of “ABO” and “Rhesus” blood groups with incidence of breast cancer.

Methods

In this study, we identified 70 research documents from data based search engines including “PubMed”, “ISI-Web of Knowledge”, “Embase” and “Google Scholar”. The research papers were selected by using the primary key-terms including “ABO blood type”, “Rhesus” blood type and “breast cancer”. The research documents in which “ABO” and “Rhesus” blood types and breast cancer was debated were included. After screening, we reviewed 32 papers and finally we selected 25 research papers which met the inclusion criteria and remaining documents were excluded.

Results

Blood group “A” has high incidence of breast cancer (45.88%), blood group “O” has (31.69%); “B” (16.16%) and blood group “AB” has (6.27%) incidence of breast cancer. Blood group “A” has highest and blood group “AB” has least association with breast cancer. Furthermore, “Rhesus +ve” blood group has high incidence of breast cancer (88.31%) and “Rhesus –ve” blood group has least association with breast cancer (11.68%).

Conclusion

Blood group “A” and “Rhesus +ve” have high risk of breast cancer, while blood type “AB” and “Rhesus –ve” are at low peril of breast cancer. Physicians should carefully monitor the females with blood group “A” and “Rh +ve” as these females are more prone to develop breast cancer. To reduce breast cancer incidence and its burden, preventive and screening programs for breast cancer especially in young women are highly recommended.

Prognostic Impact of ABO Blood Group on the Survival in Patients with Ovarian Cancer

PURPOSE

The impact of ABO blood group on the survival of patients with ovarian cancer remains uncertain. The aim of this study was to evaluate the prognostic value of the ABO blood group in ovarian cancer patients.

METHODS

256 ovarian cancer patients who received a cytoreductive surgery were retrospectively reviewed. The prognostic impact of the ABO blood group with respect to overall survival (OS) was analyzed.

RESULTS

The median follow-up time was 57 months and the 5-year OS was 70.1%. The 5-year OS were 55.0%, 83.3%, 82.5%, and 70.0% in patients with A, B, AB, and O blood type, respectively (p = 0.003). Patients with blood type A had a poorer 5-year OS than patients with blood type non-A (55.0% vs. 75.0%, p = 0.001), especially in patients with age > 50 years (40.0% vs. 62.5%, p = 0.004). Univariate Cox analyses showed that blood type A was significantly associated with OS than those with non-A types (hazard ratio (HR) 2.210, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.373-3.557, p = 0.001). Blood type A remained an independent prognostic factor for OS than those with non-A blood types in multivariate analyses (HR 2.235, 95% CI 1.360-3.674, p = 0.002).

CONCLUSION

ABO blood group is associated with survival in patients with ovarian cancer, patients with blood type A had a significantly worse OS than patients with non-A blood types, especially in patients with age > 50 years.

Effect of blood type on survival of Chinese patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma

BACKGROUND

The aim of this study was to evaluate the prognostic value of ABO blood group in Chinese patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) after esophagectomy.

METHODS

This study was a retrospective review of the records of 548 patients with ESCC who received cytoreductive surgery between October 2002 and March 2007. The prognostic impact of ABO blood group on overall survival (OS) was analyzed.

RESULTS

The median follow-up time was 37 months, and the 5-year OS was 43.3%. The overall 5-year OS was 41.2%, 49.7%, 44.0%, and 29.8% for the A, B, O, and AB groups, respectively (P=0.038). Among patients with negative lymph nodes (LNs), the 5-year OS was 59.0%, 68.2%, 57.9%, and 28.6% for the A, B, O, and AB groups, respectively (P<0.001), but blood type had no value in predicting the OS of patients with positive LNs (P=0.524). In multivariate Cox regression analysis of all patients, ABO blood group was not an independent prognostic factor of OS. However, in patients with negative LNs, blood type was an independent prognostic factor of OS, and the higher risk of death for patients of type AB versus non-AB significant in multivariate analyses (hazard ratio [HR], 2.576; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.349-4.919; P=0.004).

CONCLUSION

ABO blood group is associated with survival in Chinese patients with ESCC. Patients with blood type AB had a significantly worse OS than patients with non-AB type, especially in patients with negative LNs.