Mutation ? From ER/PR+ to TNBC

Yaelle
Yaelle Member Posts: 53
edited June 2018 in Stage IV/Metastatic Breast Cancer ONLY

Hello,

I'm somewhat puzzled. Since may 2015, I was told my cancer was ER+/PR+ although only "slightly" responding (3/8 and 4/8). After neo-adjuvant chemo, surgery and radiation, I started hormonal treatments. While on Femara I developped quite rapidly skin mets (oct.2016) and went for a new set of radiotherapy. Unfortunately, during the sessions, new skin-mets appeared. So I moved to other hormonal therapies, followed by targetted therapies. Each of which failed. In march I started Xeloda, which in turn didn't help. So, I went through a series of tests in order to check whether I could apply for clinical trials. The latest biopsy shows now : "triple negative".

I'm wandering whether anyone else had a similar (or opposite) change. I'd also like to understand whether this is due to "cell-mutation" or if it could be that all hormone-responding cells were killed ... and that only non-responsive are still there.

Thanks.

I make use of this message to send you all big hugs. Although I'm not often writing (English is so much harder than french ;-) ), I often keep reading and getting my courage out of all of your stories and answers.


· Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Comments

  • pajim
    pajim Member Posts: 2,785
    edited June 2018

    Bonsoir Yaelle! I like your tag line! I'm going to adopt it. Your English is just fine. Better than my written French, that's for sure. The basic biology answer to your question is not all breast cancer cells are the same. Often people say their cancer is X% ER+.

    So one of a couple of things could have happened. (mostly as you say above). The first is that the hormonal treatments could have killed off (well, starved) the ER+ cells, leaving behind all the triple negative cells.

    Or when the pathologist did the slices of the original tumor/biopsy, they might have just happened to hit the only few ER+ cells you had and most of your cancer was triple negative to begin with.

    I would guess it's a combination of the two. That would explain why the hormonal treatments didn't help you very much. The good news for you is that ER- cells react much better to chemo. Though Xeloda, sigh. You could ask them to do chemo-sensitivity testing? That would determine which chemos might work for you. It's not very commonly done in the US but I know in Europe they are better with these sorts of things.

    Beaucoup de câlins à toi!

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Yaelle
    Yaelle Member Posts: 53
    edited June 2018

    Hello Pajim,

    Thank you so much for your answer and the hope it gives me. I just heard that I wasn't selected for the clinical trials as my mets cannot be quantified via CT-scan (only PET-scan & MRI). Bad luck, as for the rest I passed all criteria's. So, back to chemo. I have an appoinment on tuesday with my onc and will ask her to perform a chemo-sensitivity testing. I didn't know it was possible. Fingercrossed they'll allow it.

    Anyway I'll keep dancing in the rain :-)

    Send you a lot of hugs through our belgian clouds ;-)

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Categories