Abstract
Background
Many patients with breast cancer receive no benefit from their treatment. This has led to a search for novel therapeutic targets whose identification may facilitate a more tailored approach, thereby avoiding unnecessary toxicity. Of these, topoisomerase 2 alpha (TOP2A), located at the HER2/neu amplicon on chromosome 17, has generated particular interest because its expression has been shown to correlate with response to anthracycline-based therapies.
Methods
We evaluated the relationship between TOP2A and its collocated gene, HER2/neu, and summarized the evidence for and against confining anthracycline-based therapies to those patients who demonstrate increased expression or amplification of these targets.
Results
The emerging consensus supports the restriction of anthracyclines to those patients who are HER2/neu positive, with the evidence suggesting that alterations in the status of TOP2A are almost completely restricted to this group of patients.
Conclusions
It seems increasingly likely that response to anthracyclines is predicated on these alterations.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Sorlie T, Perou CM, Tibshirani R, et al. Gene expression patterns of breast carcinomas distinguish tumor subclasses with clinical implications. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 2001;98(19):10869–74.
Clarke R, Liu MC, Bouker KB, et al. Antiestrogen resistance in breast cancer and the role of estrogen receptor signaling. Oncogene. 2003;22:7316–39.
Jansen M, Foekens JA, van Staveren IL, et al. Molecular classification of tamoxifen-resistant breast carcinomas by gene expression profiling. J Clin Oncol. 2005;23:732–40.
Gennari A, Pronzato P. New understanding of the role of anthracyclines in early-stage breast cancer: patient selection considerations. Clin Breast Cancer. 2008;8(Suppl 4):S179–83.
Thor AD, Berry DA, Budman DR, et al. erbB-2, p53, and efficacy of adjuvant therapy in lymph node-positive breast cancer. J Natl Cancer Inst. 1998;90:1346–60.
Paik SM, Bryant J, Park CH, et al. erbB-2 and response to doxorubicin in patients with axillary lymph node-positive, hormone receptor-negative breast cancer. J Natl Cancer Inst. 1998;90:1361–70.
Pritchard KI, Shepherd LE, O’Malley FP, et al. HER2 and responsiveness of breast cancer to adjuvant chemotherapy. N Engl J Med. 2006;354:2103–11.
Abe O, Abe R, Enomoto K, et al. Polychemotherapy for early breast cancer: an overview of the randomised trials. Lancet. 1998;352:930–42.
Tanner M, Isola J, Wiklund T, et al. Topoisomerase II alpha gene amplification predicts favorable treatment response to tailored and dose-escalated anthracycline-based adjuvant chemotherapy in HER-2/neu-amplified breast cancer: Scandinavian Breast Group Trial 9401. J Clin Oncol. 2006;24:2428–36.
Gennari A, Sormani MP, Pronzato P, et al. HER2 status and efficacy of adjuvant anthracyclines in early breast cancer: a pooled analysis of randomized trials. J Natl Cancer Inst. 2008;100:14–20.
Jarvinen TA, Tanner M, Barlund M, Borg A, Isola J. Characterization of topoisomerase II alpha gene amplification and deletion in breast cancer. Genes Chromosomes Cancer. 1999;26:142–50.
Jarvinen TA, Tanner M, Rantanen V, et al. Amplification and deletion of topoisomerase IIalpha associate with ErbB-2 amplification and affect sensitivity to topoisomerase II inhibitor doxorubicin in breast cancer. Am J Pathol. 2000;156:839–47.
Mueller RE, Parkes RK, Andrulis I, O’Malley FP. Amplification of the TOP2A gene does not predict high levels of topoisomerase II alpha protein in human breast tumor samples. Genes Chromosomes Cancer. 2004;39:288–97.
Bhargava R, Lal P, Chen B. HER-2/neu and topoisomerase IIa gene amplification and protein expression in invasive breast carcinomas: chromogenic in situ hybridization and immunohistochemical analyses. Am J Clin Pathol. 2005;123:889–95.
Coon JS, Marcus E, Gupta-Burt S, et al. Amplification and overexpression of topoisomerase II alpha predict response to anthracycline-based therapy in locally advanced breast cancer. Clin Cancer Res. 2002;8:1061–7.
Arriola E, Rodriguez-Pinilla SM, Lambros MBK, et al. Topoisomerase II alpha amplification may predict benefit from adjuvant anthracyclines in HER2 positive early breast cancer. Breast Cancer Res Treat. 2007;106:181–9.
Beser AR, Tuzlali S, Guzey D, et al. HER-2, TOP2A and chromosome 17 alterations in breast cancer. Pathol Oncol Res. 2007;13:180–5.
Bofin AM, Ytterhus B, Hagmar BM. TOP2A and HER-2 gene amplification in fine needle aspirates from breast carcinomas. Cytopathology. 2003;14:314–9.
Knoop AS, Knudsen H, Balslev E, et al. Retrospective analysis of topoisomerase IIa amplifications and deletions as predictive markers in primary breast cancer patients randomly assigned to cyclophosphamide, methotrexate, and fluorouracil or cyclophosphamide, epirubicin, and fluorouracil: Danish Breast Cancer Cooperative Group. J Clin Oncol. 2005;23:7483–90. [Erratum appears in J Clin Oncol. 2006;24:1015].
Orlando L, Del Curto B, Gandini S, et al. Topoisomerase IIalpha gene status and prediction of pathological complete remission after anthracycline-based neoadjuvant chemotherapy in endocrine non-responsive Her2/neu-positive breast cancer. Breast. 2008;17:506–11.
Murphy DS, McHardy P, Coutts J, et al. Interphase cytogenetic analysis of ERBB2 and TOPOII-alpha coamplification in invasive breast-cancer and polysomy of chromosome-17 in ductal carcinoma in-situ. Int J Cancer. 1995;64:18–26.
Hicks DG, Yoder BJ, Pettay J, et al. The incidence of topoisomerase II-alpha genomic alterations in adenocarcinoma of the breast and their relationship to human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 gene amplification: a fluorescence in situ hybridization study. Hum Pathol. 2005;36:348–56.
O’Malley FP, Chia S, Tu D, et al. Topoisomerase II alpha and responsiveness of breast cancer to adjuvant chemotherapy. J Natl Cancer Inst. 2009;101:644–50.
Bartlett JMS, Munro A, Cameron DA, et al. Type 1 receptor tyrosine kinase profiles identify patients with enhanced benefit from anthracyclines in the BR9601 adjuvant breast cancer chemotherapy trial. J Clin Oncol. 2008;26:5027–35.
Usha L, Tabesh B, Morrison LE, et al. Topoisomerase II alpha gene copy loss has adverse prognostic significance in ERBB2-amplified breast cancer: a retrospective study of paraffin-embedded tumor specimens and medical charts. J Haemat Oncol. 2008;1.
Withoff S, deJong S, deVries EGE, Mulder NH. Human DNA topoisomerase 2. Biochemistry and role in chemotherapy resistance (review). Anticancer Res. 1996;16:1867–80.
Park K, Kim J, Lim S, Han S. Topoisomerase II-alpha (topoII) and HER2 amplification in breast cancers and response to preoperative doxorubicin chemotherapy. Eur J Cancer. 2003;39:631–4.
Bergh J, Wiklund T, Erikstein B, et al. Tailored fluorouracil, epirubicin, and cyclophosphamide compared with marrow-supported high-dose chemotherapy as adjuvant treatment for high-risk breast cancer: a randomised trial. Scandinavian Breast Group 9401 study. Lancet. 2000;356:1384–91.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Glynn, R.W., Miller, N., Whelan, M.C. et al. Topoisomerase 2 Alpha and the Case for Individualized Breast Cancer Therapy. Ann Surg Oncol 17, 1392–1397 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1245/s10434-009-0855-0
Received:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1245/s10434-009-0855-0