Background: Inhibins (INH) are dimeric glycoproteins, composed of an alpha subunit (INH-a) and on... more Background: Inhibins (INH) are dimeric glycoproteins, composed of an alpha subunit (INH-a) and one of two possible beta subunits (INH-bA or INH- bB). They have substantial roles in human reproduction and in endocrine-responsive tumours. Therefore, the aims of this study were to determine the frequency and tissue distribution of INH-a ,I NH-bA and INH-b Bi n normal human endometrium and
Background and Purpose: Locoregional breast cancer recurrence is characterized by a high rate of... more Background and Purpose: Locoregional breast cancer recurrence is characterized by a high rate of systemic and local re-recurrence. Data on concurrent radiochemotherapy (RCT) in these cases are scarce. The purpose of this study was to evaluate feasibility, toxicity and efficacy of local control of a radiotherapy combined with a chemotherapy containing a taxane.Patients and Methods: Between May 1999 and November 2004, 36
Background Tumor board recommendations for breast cancer are mainly based on patient characteris... more Background Tumor board recommendations for breast cancer are mainly based on patient characteristics and prognostic tumor parameters. In the era of potential avoidance of axillary surgery we evaluate the impact of pathologic nodal status for adjuvant treatment decisions. Methods Postoperative tumor board records of 207 patients over a 1-year period were rediscussed without knowledge of pathologic nodal status. Differences were classified as
Journal of Chromatography B-analytical Technologies in The Biomedical and Life Sciences, 2006
As the pathogenesis of the HELLP-syndrome is unknown, a complex consideration regarding the chang... more As the pathogenesis of the HELLP-syndrome is unknown, a complex consideration regarding the changes in the plasma as the main transport medium in the body is of great benefit because it is well available and can rapidly be investigated in the clinics. Besides that, the liver which is early affected in HELLP-syndrome produces the main part of plasma proteins. For
International Journal of Radiation Oncology Biology Physics, 2008
Purpose: To obtain long-term data on local tumor control after treatment of invasive breast cance... more Purpose: To obtain long-term data on local tumor control after treatment of invasive breast cancer by breast-conserving surgery and adjuvant radiotherapy (RT), in consideration of the interstitial high-dose-rate boost technique. Patients and Methods: A total of 263 women with 268 mammary carcinomas (International Union Against Cancer Stage I-IIB) who had undergone breast-conserving surgery and adjuvant RT between 1990 and 1994
Improved treatment of breast cancer in premenopausal patients increased survival rates, but the t... more Improved treatment of breast cancer in premenopausal patients increased survival rates, but the therapy may influence fertility and ovarian function. Currently there is a big public and individual interest of breast cancer affected women in preservation of ovarian function and fertility. Chemotherapy induced amenorrhea (CIA) has many objective (osteoporosis, cardiovascular, urogenital atrophy, cognitive etc.) and subjective (hot flushes, sleep disturbances,
W Abstract: The prognostic value of immunohistochemically detected micrometastases (Nla-IHC) in c... more W Abstract: The prognostic value of immunohistochemically detected micrometastases (Nla-IHC) in conventionally negative lymph nodes (No) and i t s association with newer prognostic factors is controversial.
Background: A total of 10% to 15% of pathologic nipple discharge in women is due to malignant les... more Background: A total of 10% to 15% of pathologic nipple discharge in women is due to malignant lesions of the breast. The purpose of this study was to discover the rate of breast cancer in women who present with this symptom and undergo ductal excision, to evaluate the different diagnostic methods used before surgery, and to discover whether there are
International Journal of Gynecology & Obstetrics, 1997
Objective: To compare clinical, ultrasonographical, and cytological findings with the histopathol... more Objective: To compare clinical, ultrasonographical, and cytological findings with the histopathological diagnosis of unilocular, anechoic smooth-walled cystic ovarian tumors (‘simple ovarian cysts’). Method: In 140 premenopausal women simple ovarian cysts were removed by laparoscopy following ultrasound evaluation. In this retrospective study the histopathological diagnosis was correlated with clinical data, sonographic characteristics, macroscopic impression and with cytological findings. Results: Histopathology revealed
International journal of cancer. Journal international du cancer, Jan 23, 2015
Studies assessing the effect of bevacizumab (BEV) on breast cancer outcome have shown different e... more Studies assessing the effect of bevacizumab (BEV) on breast cancer outcome have shown different effects on progression-free and overall survival, suggesting that a subgroup of patients may benefit from this treatment. Unfortunately, no biomarkers exist to identify these patients. Here, we investigate whether single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in VEGF pathway genes correlate with pathological complete response (pCR) in the neoadjuvant GeparQuinto trial. HER2-negative patients were randomized into treatment arms receiving either BEV combined with standard chemotherapy or chemotherapy alone. In a pre-planned biomarker study, DNA was collected from 729 and 724 patients, respectively from both treatment arms, and genotyped for 125 SNPs. Logistic regression assessed interaction between individual SNPs and both treatment arms to predict pCR. Five SNPs may be associated with a better response to BEV, but none of them remained significant after correction for multiple testing. The two SN...
Clinical cancer research : an official journal of the American Association for Cancer Research, Jan 30, 2015
Dual anti-HER2 blockade with trastuzumab/pertuzumab or trastuzumab/lapatinib in combination with ... more Dual anti-HER2 blockade with trastuzumab/pertuzumab or trastuzumab/lapatinib in combination with anthracycline/taxane-based chemotherapy can reach pCR rates of up to 60% in HER2-positive breast cancer. The DAFNE phase II study (NCT015591477) investigated a dual blockade with the irreversible pan-HER inhibitor afatinib and trastuzumab in this setting. Participants with untreated, centrally HER2-positive breast cancer were treated for 6 weeks with afatinib (20mg/day) and trastuzumab ((8)6mg/kg/3weeks) alone; followed by 12 weeks treatment with paclitaxel (80mg/m²/1week), trastuzumab and afatinib; followed by 12 weeks with epirubicin (90mg/m²/3weeks), cyclophosphamide (600mg/m²/3weeks), and trastuzumab before surgery. Primary objective was pCR rate defined as ypT0/is ypN0. We expected a pCR rate of 70%; 65 patients were needed to exclude a rate of ≤55%. pCR rate was 49.2% (90% CI: 38.5; 60.1) in 65 treated patients. Patients with hormone-receptor-negative (N=19) or -positive (N=46) tum...
Aesthetic surgery journal / the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic surgery, Jan 24, 2015
Implant rupture as a late complication of breast implant surgery is often a silent phenomenon tha... more Implant rupture as a late complication of breast implant surgery is often a silent phenomenon that is difficult to diagnose. Sonoelastography is a new ultrasound-based technique that allows assessment of tissue elasticity. This study was undertaken to evaluate elastographic findings in normal and ruptured breast implants. This prospective study included 28 implants in 16 patients, all of whom underwent high-resolution ultrasound and real-time elastography. The diagnosis of implant rupture was confirmed by surgery. Implant rupture was diagnosed in 5 out of 28 implants (17.9%). In those patients with ruptured implants, 3 had no symptoms, 1 presented with pain, and 1 complained of ipsilateral axillary lymph node swelling. Implants with a homogenous anechoic interior were considered to be intact. Ultrasound findings indicating implant rupture included multiple parallel echogenic lines in the implant interior in 2 cases and a mix of hyperechoic and hypoechoic masses in 3 cases. The feasi...
Clinical cancer research : an official journal of the American Association for Cancer Research, Jan 11, 2014
Purpose: Scoring proliferation through Ki67-immunohistochemistry is an important component in pre... more Purpose: Scoring proliferation through Ki67-immunohistochemistry is an important component in predicting therapy response to chemotherapy in breast cancer patients. However, recent studies have cast doubt on the reliability of "visual" Ki67 scoring in the multicenter setting, particularly in the lower - yet clinically important - proliferation range. Therefore, an accurate and standardized Ki67-scoring is pivotal both in routine diagnostics and larger multi-center studies. Experimental Design: We validated a novel computer-assisted Ki67 scoring approach that relies on only minimal a priori knowledge on cell properties and requires no training data for calibration. We applied our approach to 1082 breast cancer samples from the neoadjuvant GeparTrio trial and compared the performance of automated and manual Ki67 scoring. Results: The three groups of autoKi67 as defined by low (≤15%), medium (15.1-35%) and high (>35%) automated scores showed pCR rates of 5.8%, 16.9%, and 2...
The objective of the present study was to examine the prognostic and predictive significance of t... more The objective of the present study was to examine the prognostic and predictive significance of the apoptosis-related marker Fas ligand (FasL):Fas ratio in breast cancer. Tumour biopsies from 215 primary invasive breast cancer patients were examined for the expression of FasL and Fas mRNA transcripts by quantitative real-time RT-PCR. Their prognostic and predictive impact on patient survival was determined in univariate and multivariate survival analyses. Using a cutoff value of 1, a FasL:Fas ratio greater than 1 was found to have significant prognostic value for disease-free survival among the total population (median follow up 54 months). It was associated with a significantly decreased disease-free survival (P = 0.022) and with a tendency toward increased mortality (P = 0.14) in univariate analysis. Hormone receptor positive women exclusively treated with tamoxifen (n = 86) and with a FasL:Fas ratio greater than 1 had a significantly decreased disease-free survival (P = 0.008) an...
Background: Inhibins (INH) are dimeric glycoproteins, composed of an alpha subunit (INH-a) and on... more Background: Inhibins (INH) are dimeric glycoproteins, composed of an alpha subunit (INH-a) and one of two possible beta subunits (INH-bA or INH- bB). They have substantial roles in human reproduction and in endocrine-responsive tumours. Therefore, the aims of this study were to determine the frequency and tissue distribution of INH-a ,I NH-bA and INH-b Bi n normal human endometrium and
Background and Purpose: Locoregional breast cancer recurrence is characterized by a high rate of... more Background and Purpose: Locoregional breast cancer recurrence is characterized by a high rate of systemic and local re-recurrence. Data on concurrent radiochemotherapy (RCT) in these cases are scarce. The purpose of this study was to evaluate feasibility, toxicity and efficacy of local control of a radiotherapy combined with a chemotherapy containing a taxane.Patients and Methods: Between May 1999 and November 2004, 36
Background Tumor board recommendations for breast cancer are mainly based on patient characteris... more Background Tumor board recommendations for breast cancer are mainly based on patient characteristics and prognostic tumor parameters. In the era of potential avoidance of axillary surgery we evaluate the impact of pathologic nodal status for adjuvant treatment decisions. Methods Postoperative tumor board records of 207 patients over a 1-year period were rediscussed without knowledge of pathologic nodal status. Differences were classified as
Journal of Chromatography B-analytical Technologies in The Biomedical and Life Sciences, 2006
As the pathogenesis of the HELLP-syndrome is unknown, a complex consideration regarding the chang... more As the pathogenesis of the HELLP-syndrome is unknown, a complex consideration regarding the changes in the plasma as the main transport medium in the body is of great benefit because it is well available and can rapidly be investigated in the clinics. Besides that, the liver which is early affected in HELLP-syndrome produces the main part of plasma proteins. For
International Journal of Radiation Oncology Biology Physics, 2008
Purpose: To obtain long-term data on local tumor control after treatment of invasive breast cance... more Purpose: To obtain long-term data on local tumor control after treatment of invasive breast cancer by breast-conserving surgery and adjuvant radiotherapy (RT), in consideration of the interstitial high-dose-rate boost technique. Patients and Methods: A total of 263 women with 268 mammary carcinomas (International Union Against Cancer Stage I-IIB) who had undergone breast-conserving surgery and adjuvant RT between 1990 and 1994
Improved treatment of breast cancer in premenopausal patients increased survival rates, but the t... more Improved treatment of breast cancer in premenopausal patients increased survival rates, but the therapy may influence fertility and ovarian function. Currently there is a big public and individual interest of breast cancer affected women in preservation of ovarian function and fertility. Chemotherapy induced amenorrhea (CIA) has many objective (osteoporosis, cardiovascular, urogenital atrophy, cognitive etc.) and subjective (hot flushes, sleep disturbances,
W Abstract: The prognostic value of immunohistochemically detected micrometastases (Nla-IHC) in c... more W Abstract: The prognostic value of immunohistochemically detected micrometastases (Nla-IHC) in conventionally negative lymph nodes (No) and i t s association with newer prognostic factors is controversial.
Background: A total of 10% to 15% of pathologic nipple discharge in women is due to malignant les... more Background: A total of 10% to 15% of pathologic nipple discharge in women is due to malignant lesions of the breast. The purpose of this study was to discover the rate of breast cancer in women who present with this symptom and undergo ductal excision, to evaluate the different diagnostic methods used before surgery, and to discover whether there are
International Journal of Gynecology & Obstetrics, 1997
Objective: To compare clinical, ultrasonographical, and cytological findings with the histopathol... more Objective: To compare clinical, ultrasonographical, and cytological findings with the histopathological diagnosis of unilocular, anechoic smooth-walled cystic ovarian tumors (‘simple ovarian cysts’). Method: In 140 premenopausal women simple ovarian cysts were removed by laparoscopy following ultrasound evaluation. In this retrospective study the histopathological diagnosis was correlated with clinical data, sonographic characteristics, macroscopic impression and with cytological findings. Results: Histopathology revealed
International journal of cancer. Journal international du cancer, Jan 23, 2015
Studies assessing the effect of bevacizumab (BEV) on breast cancer outcome have shown different e... more Studies assessing the effect of bevacizumab (BEV) on breast cancer outcome have shown different effects on progression-free and overall survival, suggesting that a subgroup of patients may benefit from this treatment. Unfortunately, no biomarkers exist to identify these patients. Here, we investigate whether single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in VEGF pathway genes correlate with pathological complete response (pCR) in the neoadjuvant GeparQuinto trial. HER2-negative patients were randomized into treatment arms receiving either BEV combined with standard chemotherapy or chemotherapy alone. In a pre-planned biomarker study, DNA was collected from 729 and 724 patients, respectively from both treatment arms, and genotyped for 125 SNPs. Logistic regression assessed interaction between individual SNPs and both treatment arms to predict pCR. Five SNPs may be associated with a better response to BEV, but none of them remained significant after correction for multiple testing. The two SN...
Clinical cancer research : an official journal of the American Association for Cancer Research, Jan 30, 2015
Dual anti-HER2 blockade with trastuzumab/pertuzumab or trastuzumab/lapatinib in combination with ... more Dual anti-HER2 blockade with trastuzumab/pertuzumab or trastuzumab/lapatinib in combination with anthracycline/taxane-based chemotherapy can reach pCR rates of up to 60% in HER2-positive breast cancer. The DAFNE phase II study (NCT015591477) investigated a dual blockade with the irreversible pan-HER inhibitor afatinib and trastuzumab in this setting. Participants with untreated, centrally HER2-positive breast cancer were treated for 6 weeks with afatinib (20mg/day) and trastuzumab ((8)6mg/kg/3weeks) alone; followed by 12 weeks treatment with paclitaxel (80mg/m²/1week), trastuzumab and afatinib; followed by 12 weeks with epirubicin (90mg/m²/3weeks), cyclophosphamide (600mg/m²/3weeks), and trastuzumab before surgery. Primary objective was pCR rate defined as ypT0/is ypN0. We expected a pCR rate of 70%; 65 patients were needed to exclude a rate of ≤55%. pCR rate was 49.2% (90% CI: 38.5; 60.1) in 65 treated patients. Patients with hormone-receptor-negative (N=19) or -positive (N=46) tum...
Aesthetic surgery journal / the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic surgery, Jan 24, 2015
Implant rupture as a late complication of breast implant surgery is often a silent phenomenon tha... more Implant rupture as a late complication of breast implant surgery is often a silent phenomenon that is difficult to diagnose. Sonoelastography is a new ultrasound-based technique that allows assessment of tissue elasticity. This study was undertaken to evaluate elastographic findings in normal and ruptured breast implants. This prospective study included 28 implants in 16 patients, all of whom underwent high-resolution ultrasound and real-time elastography. The diagnosis of implant rupture was confirmed by surgery. Implant rupture was diagnosed in 5 out of 28 implants (17.9%). In those patients with ruptured implants, 3 had no symptoms, 1 presented with pain, and 1 complained of ipsilateral axillary lymph node swelling. Implants with a homogenous anechoic interior were considered to be intact. Ultrasound findings indicating implant rupture included multiple parallel echogenic lines in the implant interior in 2 cases and a mix of hyperechoic and hypoechoic masses in 3 cases. The feasi...
Clinical cancer research : an official journal of the American Association for Cancer Research, Jan 11, 2014
Purpose: Scoring proliferation through Ki67-immunohistochemistry is an important component in pre... more Purpose: Scoring proliferation through Ki67-immunohistochemistry is an important component in predicting therapy response to chemotherapy in breast cancer patients. However, recent studies have cast doubt on the reliability of "visual" Ki67 scoring in the multicenter setting, particularly in the lower - yet clinically important - proliferation range. Therefore, an accurate and standardized Ki67-scoring is pivotal both in routine diagnostics and larger multi-center studies. Experimental Design: We validated a novel computer-assisted Ki67 scoring approach that relies on only minimal a priori knowledge on cell properties and requires no training data for calibration. We applied our approach to 1082 breast cancer samples from the neoadjuvant GeparTrio trial and compared the performance of automated and manual Ki67 scoring. Results: The three groups of autoKi67 as defined by low (≤15%), medium (15.1-35%) and high (>35%) automated scores showed pCR rates of 5.8%, 16.9%, and 2...
The objective of the present study was to examine the prognostic and predictive significance of t... more The objective of the present study was to examine the prognostic and predictive significance of the apoptosis-related marker Fas ligand (FasL):Fas ratio in breast cancer. Tumour biopsies from 215 primary invasive breast cancer patients were examined for the expression of FasL and Fas mRNA transcripts by quantitative real-time RT-PCR. Their prognostic and predictive impact on patient survival was determined in univariate and multivariate survival analyses. Using a cutoff value of 1, a FasL:Fas ratio greater than 1 was found to have significant prognostic value for disease-free survival among the total population (median follow up 54 months). It was associated with a significantly decreased disease-free survival (P = 0.022) and with a tendency toward increased mortality (P = 0.14) in univariate analysis. Hormone receptor positive women exclusively treated with tamoxifen (n = 86) and with a FasL:Fas ratio greater than 1 had a significantly decreased disease-free survival (P = 0.008) an...
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Papers by Bernd Gerber