the majority of patients with early breast cancer receive some form of systemic adjuvant therapy (chemo-, endocrine, and/or targeted therapy). Despite the increase in adjuvant therapy prescription, little progress has been made with respect to assisting oncologists to determine which breast cancer patients, particularly those deemed at “lower risk” of relapse, require chemotherapy or other systemic therapy and which women can safely be treated with loco-regional treatment alone. For these reasons, the identification of prognostic and predictive markers that will assist the clinician in selecting the most suitable form of medical therapy has become very high priority as well as a real challenge in translational research. Unfortunately, several problems have hampered the identification and/or clinical usefulness of prognostic and predictive markers. In Chapter 1, we sought to address some of the specific questions regarding prognosis: - Are gene expression signatures robust and reproducible? - Do the different gene signatures have similar prognostic performance? Are they concordant in their prediction for the individual patient? - What is the role of individual genes in a signature and what is their biological interpretation? - What is the relationship between the molecular classification defined by cluster analysis and the different prognostic signatures? Through the following specific aims: 1. Independent validation study of a prognostic gene signature derived from microarray technology, to demonstrate its reproducibility, robustness and clinical utility compared with classical breast cancer prognostic factors in an appropriate validation cohort (Chapter 1A); 2. Independent comparison of three prognostic gene signatures (Chapter 1B); 3. Characterization of the biological foundation of the different prognostic signatures and refinement of our knowledge regarding breast cancer prognosis according to the molecular subgroups defined by ER and HER2 through a meta-analysis of publicly available gene expression data (Chapter 1C). In Chapter 2, we sought to address some specific questions regarding the prediction of response for the most commonly given breast cancer treatments: - What is the importance of proliferation genes in predicting clinical outcome in patients treated with endocrine therapy? - What is the value of TOP2A in predicting the efficacy of anthracycline therapy? - Can we identify a list of genes associated with response to anthracyline therapy? - What is the best method and cutoff to determine HER2-positive patients eligible for trastuzumab therapy? Would an alternative quantitative method for HER2 expression and homodimerization discriminate patients with significantly different probabilities of clinical outcome following treatment with trastuzumab? Through the following specific aims: 1. Investigation of molecular markers of response to endocrine therapy in hormono-sensitive patients (Chapter 2A); 2. Prospective evaluation of the predictive value of TOP2A and identification of genes associated with response in a cohort of patients treated with anthracyclines (Chapter 2B); 3. Investigation of the best method to select patients who should be treated by trastuzumab-based therapy and evaluation of a new technique to quantitatively assess HER2 expression (Chapter 2C).

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most common causes of death from malignant disease. Nevertheless, no ideal screening method exists and there is a lack of prognostic and predictive factors to support clinical decisions and to aid the development of a more individualized treatment for patients with CRC. The aim of this thesis was to investigate early detection, prognostic and predictive factors of CRC. In the first paper, a novel method to collect cells for DNA quantification from the rectal mucosa was investigated. The sensitivity and specificity of this test to detect CRC or any pathology in colon and rectum were ultimately too low to be acceptable. In the second paper, the prognostic value of growth differentiation factor 15 (GDF 15) was evaluated in patients curatively operated for colorectal cancer. GDF 15 expression was demonstrated to be associated with a negative prognosis in patients with stages I-III and III disease. In the third paper, the prognostic value of BRAF, PIK3CA KRAS and MSI was evaluated in a cohort of patients with CRC stratified by disease and recurrence. The results indicated that patients with CRC stage III without recurrence have a higher frequency of BRAF mutation compared to stage III patients with recurrence. In the fourth paper, histopathological predictors of pathologic complete response (pCR) as well as the association between pre-treatment carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) levels and pCR in non-smoking and smoking patients receiving preoperative chemo-radiotherapy for rectal cancer were evaluated. Only in non-smokers was a low CEA level significantly associated with pCR, suggesting that the predictive value of CEA for pCR in rectal cancer in smokers can be limited. In sum, this research has investigated a new method for CRC detection and further evaluated the clinical use of prognostic and predictive markers in CRC.

Le cancer du sein est une maladie hétérogène, d’une part car la réponse à un traitement donné n’est pas toujours identique et d’autre part car la survie des patientes peut varier. Individualiser les traitements des patientes atteintes d’un cancer du sein demeure l’un des objectifs premiers des praticiens. La chimiothérapie néoadjuvante (CTNA) est le traitement standard pour le cancer du sein opérable. Un des bénéfices principaux de la CTNA est d’améliorer le taux de la conservation mammaire. Elle permet également d’identifier les non- répondeurs plus précocement afin de stopper un traitement inefficace. De plus, la CTNA est le seul moyen d’étudier les marqueurs prédictifs de la tumeur afin de personnaliser le traitement en fonction de chaque malade. La réponse complète histologique (RCH) sur la pièce opératoire après la CTNA est le seul facteur prédictif de la survie des patientes validé à l’heure actuelle. Ce travail, réalisé au Centre Jean Perrin, s’articule autour de 2 parties ayant pour objectif la personnalisation des traitements, plus spécifiquement dans la sous-population Luminale/HER2-. Dans la première partie, nous avons promu une étude prospective de phase II randomisée, ayant inclu des patientes atteintes d’un cancer du sein HER2- (80% luminal et 20% triple négative), avec pour objectif la comparaison du taux de RCH obtenu par l’emploi d’un traitement standard de CTNA: 3 cures de FEC100 suivi de 3 cures de Taxotère par rapport à un traitement adapté en fonction de la réponse clinique après 2 et 4 cures de FEC 100. Cette étude n’a pas montré de différence significative au niveau de la RCH entre les deux stratégies de traitement. Nous avons également réalisé une revue de la littérature sur la RCH, qui nous a permis de mieux comprendre que la RCH ne semblait pas être capable de prédire la réponse au traitement chez les patientes atteintes d’un cancer du sein luminal, ni même leur survie; ces patientes présentaient un taux de RCH faible. C’est pour cette raison que chez les patientes atteintes d’un cancer du sein luminal, nous avons orienté nos travaux dans la recherche d’autres bio-marqueurs prédictifs de la réponse à la chimiothérapie. Ceci pourrait nous permettre d’avoir une meilleure prise en charge des patientes atteintes de ce sous-type de cancer du sein. Dans la deuxième partie de ces travaux, nous avons donc réalisé une base de données de 128 patientes traitées par CTNA pour un cancer du sein RH+/HER2-. D’après l’analyse des résultats, l’envahissement ganglionnaire (N) évalué sur la pièce opératoire est un facteur pronostique indépendant. C’est pourquoi, chez les patientes présentant plus de 4 ganglions envahis, il pourrait être proposé un traitement prolongé par hormonothérapie adjuvante. Enfin, nous nous sommes intéressés aux infiltrations lymphocytaires dans le microenvironnement tumoral (TIL) et plus spécifiquement à l’infiltration lymphocytaire T cytotoxiques CD8 au niveau de la biopsie. Nous avons souhaité évaluer la valeur prédictive à la chimiothérapie de l’infiltration lymphocytaire. D’après nos premières analyses, le nombre de TIL et de CD8+ mesuré sur la biopsie est significativement associé à la taille tumorale résiduelle et à la RCH : plus le nombre de lymphocytes CD8 est élevé, plus la taille tumorale résiduelle est faible. Ces différents travaux soulignent l’importance de la caractérisation des sous-groupes de tumeurs mammaires afin de pouvoir adapter le traitement, dans le but d’améliorer la réponse et d’augmenter la survie des patientes. / Breast cancer (BC) is an heterogeneous disease notably because of a difference in patient’s response to a given treatment and also a difference in survival. Individualize therapies to treat BC patients remains one of main goal of physicians. Neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) is the standard treatment for operable breast cancer. One of the main benefits of NACT is to improve the breast conservation rate. It permits also to identify earlier non-responders in order to stop an ineffective treatment. In addition, NACT is the only way to study the predictive tumor markers in order to tailor treatment for each patient. Pathological complete Response (pCR) assessed in surgery piece after NACT is the only predictor of patient’s survival validated to date. This work, carried out at Centre Jean Perrin, includes two parts with the aim of personalizing treatments, and more specifically in the Luminal/HER2- subpopulation. In the first part, we have promoted a prospective randomized phase II trial, which included HER2- BC patients (80% luminal and 20% triple negative). The aim of this study was pCR rate comparison obtained with use of a standard NACT treatment: 3 FEC100 courses followed by 3 cycles of Docetaxel to an adapted treatment according to clinical response after 2 and 4 FEC 100 cures. This study did not reveal significant pCR differences between the two treatment strategies. We have also conducted a literature review on pCR. This review allows us to better understand that pCR seems to not be able to predict response to treatment in luminal BC patients, nor their survival; few of these patients reaching a pCR. For this reason, in luminal BC patients, we have focused our researchs on other predictive biomarkers of response to chemotherapy. This could allow us to have a better medical care of patients having this subtype of BC. In the second part of this work, we have realised#a 128 patients database treated by NACT for their HR+/HER2- BC. According to results analysis, the number of involved nodes (N), measured on the surgery piece, is an independent prognostic factor. That is why, in patients presenting more than 4 involved nodes, we could propose an extended adjuvant hormone therapy. Finally, we have examined the tumor microenvironment infiltration lymphocyte (TIL) and specifically the CD8 cytotoxic T lymphocytes in tissue biopsy. We wanted to assess the predictive value of lymphocyte infiltration to chemotherapy. According to our first analysis, the TIL and CD8+ number on biopsy was significantly associated with residual tumor size and pCR: the larger number of CD8 lymphocytes, the smaller residual tumor size was. These studies emphasize the importance of characterizing subgroups of breast tumors in order to adapt the treatment and thus to improve the response and increase patients survival

PTSD patients show alterations of the immune system, mainly a ‘low-grade inflammation’. Psychotherapeutic treatments are meant to reduce symptom burden of PTSD patients but 30–50% of PTSD patients do not benefit from psychotherapy. Therefore, in this study, the predictive effect of cytokine levels on therapy outcome are investigated. Pro- (IL-6) and anti-inflammatory (IL-10) cytokines in female PTSD patients (N = 17) were assessed under acute stress during a Trier social stress test (TSST) before therapeutic treatment. The predictive effects of IL-6 and IL-10 on therapy outcome (SCL_GSI, BDI) after an inpatient psychotherapeutic treatment at the University Medical Center Carl Gustav Carus, Technische Universität Dresden was investigated. Areas under the curve with respect to ground (AUCG) and increase (AUCI) for IL-6 and IL-10 levels during the TSST were calculated and used as predictors in regression analyses with pre-treatment scores. Models including all three predictors show good model fits (R2 = 0.255 to 0.744). Models including AUCG and AUCI scores show superior fits compared with models including pre-treatment scores alone (ΔR2 = 0.196 to 0.444). IL-6 AUCG and AUCI scores are significant predictors for post-treatment SCL-GSI and BDI (β = −0.554 to 0.853), whereas IL-10 AUCG significantly predicts SCL-GSI and BDI (β = −0.449 to −0.509). Therefore, pro- and anti-inflammatory IL-6 and IL-10 levels under acute stress before therapy predict therapy outcome of female PTSD patients regarding general symptom burden and depressive symptoms. Future studies should further address the link between inflammation and therapy outcome, especially underlying mechanisms and influencing factors.

This study tested whether the hormonal stress response to the DEX-CRH test may be predictive of the psychotherapy success for panic disorder (PD). Thirty-four patients diagnosed either with agoraphobia with PD or PD without agoraphobia were subjected to cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). Patients (pre-therapy) and healthy volunteers were exposed to the DEX-CRH test. Blood samples were taken for cortisol and adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) assessment. Established panic-specific questionnaires were handed out for the pre-therapy and post-therapy evaluation of disease severity (with reference to panic beliefs and agoraphobic cognitions, fear of bodily sensations, agoraphobic avoidance behaviour). Repeated measures ANCOVA were conducted for the analysis of the pre-therapy hormonal response, and Pearson\'s correlation analysis to test for associations with the psychotherapy outcome. Data analyses revealed large effect sizes for CBT in the clinical measures (η2 ≥ 0.321), main effects of time for cortisol and ACTH with no differences between both groups, and significant associations between cortisol release and agoraphobic cognitions for the patients. PD diagnosis had no impact on the hormonal response. However, those patients with higher cortisol release showed less improvement after CBT (significantly for agoraphobic cognitions). Clinical implications of these findings are the prediction of the therapy success from a potential endocrine correlate whose persistency (if assessed repeatedly) during the treatment may predict (non-)response to the current treatment, possibly representing a decision support for a change in treatment to avoid the continuation of an inefficient treatment.

the majority of patients with early breast cancer receive some form of systemic adjuvant therapy (chemo-, endocrine, and/or targeted therapy). Despite the increase in adjuvant therapy prescription, little progress has been made with respect to assisting oncologists to determine which breast cancer patients, particularly those deemed at “lower risk” of relapse, require chemotherapy or other systemic therapy and which women can safely be treated with loco-regional treatment alone. For these reasons, the identification of prognostic and predictive markers that will assist the clinician in selecting the most suitable form of medical therapy has become very high priority as well as a real challenge in translational research. <p>\ / Doctorat en Sciences biomédicales et pharmaceutiques / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

This study tested whether the hormonal stress response to the DEX-CRH test may be predictive of the psychotherapy success for panic disorder (PD). Thirty-four patients diagnosed either with agoraphobia with PD or PD without agoraphobia were subjected to cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). Patients (pre-therapy) and healthy volunteers were exposed to the DEX-CRH test. Blood samples were taken for cortisol and adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) assessment. Established panic-specific questionnaires were handed out for the pre-therapy and post-therapy evaluation of disease severity (with reference to panic beliefs and agoraphobic cognitions, fear of bodily sensations, agoraphobic avoidance behaviour). Repeated measures ANCOVA were conducted for the analysis of the pre-therapy hormonal response, and Pearson\'s correlation analysis to test for associations with the psychotherapy outcome. Data analyses revealed large effect sizes for CBT in the clinical measures (η2 ≥ 0.321), main effects of time for cortisol and ACTH with no differences between both groups, and significant associations between cortisol release and agoraphobic cognitions for the patients. PD diagnosis had no impact on the hormonal response. However, those patients with higher cortisol release showed less improvement after CBT (significantly for agoraphobic cognitions). Clinical implications of these findings are the prediction of the therapy success from a potential endocrine correlate whose persistency (if assessed repeatedly) during the treatment may predict (non-)response to the current treatment, possibly representing a decision support for a change in treatment to avoid the continuation of an inefficient treatment.

Introduction: Simultaneous detection of disseminated tumor cells (DTCs) and circulating tumor cells (CTCs) was shown to be associated with an especially poor prognosis and increased incidence of disease-related deaths in non-metastatic breast cancer patients. We analyzed the occurance of DTCs in bone marrow and CTCs in peripheral blood in patients with primary breast cancer, we evaluated the correlation of their presence with other prognostic markers and we investigated the changes in DTCs/CTCs number at different time points during treatment. Materials and methods: Blood of 50 patients with primary breast cancer were used for immunomagnetic separation and detection of circulating tumor cells using the commercial available system the AdnaTest Breast Cancer™ (AdnaGen GmbH, Langenhagen, Germany). Bone marrow aspirates from 50 patients were analyzed for DTCs by immunocytochemistry using the pancytokeratin antibody conjugated with FITC (Monoclonal Anti-Cytokeratin antibody F3418, Sigma Aldrich, USA). Results: DTCs were identified in 30% (15/50) and CTCs in 22% (11/50) of patients. We found that DTC positivity could point to a significantly high risk of larger primary tumor size (p- value 0.011) and significantly higher risk of lymph node involvement (p- value 0.002). For CTC positivity, no such...

Introduction: Simultaneous detection of disseminated tumor cells (DTCs) and circulating tumor cells (CTCs) was shown to be associated with an especially poor prognosis and increased incidence of disease-related deaths in non-metastatic breast cancer patients. We analyzed the occurance of DTCs in bone marrow and CTCs in peripheral blood in patients with primary breast cancer, we evaluated the correlation of their presence with other prognostic markers and we investigated the changes in DTCs/CTCs number at different time points during treatment. Materials and methods: Blood of 50 patients with primary breast cancer were used for immunomagnetic separation and detection of circulating tumor cells using the commercial available system the AdnaTest Breast Cancer™ (AdnaGen GmbH, Langenhagen, Germany). Bone marrow aspirates from 50 patients were analyzed for DTCs by immunocytochemistry using the pancytokeratin antibody conjugated with FITC (Monoclonal Anti-Cytokeratin antibody F3418, Sigma Aldrich, USA). Results: DTCs were identified in 30% (15/50) and CTCs in 22% (11/50) of patients. We found that DTC positivity could point to a significantly high risk of larger primary tumor size (p- value 0.011) and significantly higher risk of lymph node involvement (p- value 0.002). For CTC positivity, no such...