{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,5]],"date-time":"2026-08-05T05:43:49Z","timestamp":1785908629449,"version":"3.56.0"},"reference-count":23,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,5]],"date-time":"2026-08-05T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1785888000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Oncol."],"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Introduction<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Evidence suggests that histopathological features and molecular subtypes influence the prognosis of breast carcinoma; however, their roles in liver metastatic breast cancer remain unclear. This study aimed to compare histopathological characteristics and molecular subtypes between primary breast tumors and paired liver metastases, and to evaluate their prognostic significance.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>This retrospective study included 41 patients with liver metastatic breast cancer. Histopathological re-evaluation was performed for paired primary tumors and liver metastases, including tumor grade, lymphovascular invasion (LVI), lymph node (LN) status, and molecular subtype. Clinical data and liver progression-free survival (LPFS) were also analyzed. Patients were stratified according to LPFS \u226460 months and LPFS &amp;gt;60 months.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Patients with LPFS \u226460 months showed higher rates of LVI and positive LN metastasis in primary tumors than those with LPFS &amp;gt;60 months. Liver metastases from patients with shorter LPFS had a higher proportion of grade 3 tumors. Tumor grade increased in liver metastases compared with primary tumors, with grade 3 tumors accounting for 56.1% of metastases versus 22.0% of primary tumors. Overall, 39.0% of cases showed grade progression, whereas 24.4% showed molecular subtype changes. Molecular subtype composition remained largely unchanged between primary and metastatic lesions.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Discussion<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Histopathological discordance, particularly grade progression between primary tumors and liver metastases, may provide additional prognostic stratification beyond conventional baseline tumor characteristics. These findings highlight the importance of re-biopsy and dynamic pathological reassessment of metastatic lesions, which may directly influence therapeutic decision-making in metastatic breast cancer. Comprehensive pathological evaluation of liver metastases is recommended to guide prognosis assessment and treatment strategies.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fonc.2026.1625082","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,5]],"date-time":"2026-08-05T04:45:29Z","timestamp":1785905129000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Variations in histopathological and molecular subtypes between primary breast carcinoma and associated liver metastatic lesions"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"16","author":[{"given":"Fang","family":"Guo","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pathology, Hubei Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine","place":["Wuhan, Hubei, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Gelin","family":"ZhangYang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pathology, Hubei Cancer Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology","place":["Wuhan, Hubei, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Pengfei","family":"Xu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pathology, Hubei Cancer Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology","place":["Wuhan, Hubei, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Liting","family":"Jin","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Breast Cancer Center, Hubei Cancer Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, National Key Clinical Specialty, Hubei Provincial Clinical Research Center for Breast Cancer, Wuhan Clinical Research Center for Breast Cancer","place":["Wuhan, Hubei, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,5]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.3322\/caac.21660","article-title":"Global cancer statistics 2020: GLOBOCAN estimates of incidence and mortality worldwide for 36 cancers in 185 countries","volume":"71","author":"Sung","year":"2021","journal-title":"CA Cancer J Clin"},{"key":"B2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jncc.2022.02.002","article-title":"Cancer incidence and mortality in China, 2016","volume":"2","author":"Zheng","year":"2022","journal-title":"JNCC"},{"key":"B3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1093\/jncics\/pky062","article-title":"Change in survival in metastatic breast cancer with treatment advances: Meta-analysis and systematic review","volume":"2","author":"Caswell-Jin","year":"2018","journal-title":"JNCI Cancer Spectr"},{"key":"B4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1002\/cncr.21778","article-title":"Metastatic patterns in adenocarcinoma","volume":"106","author":"Hess","year":"2006","journal-title":"Cancer"},{"key":"B5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1091","DOI":"10.1186\/s12885-019-6311-z","article-title":"The clinicopathological features and survival outcomes of patients with different metastatic sites in stage IV breast cancer","volume":"19","author":"Wang","year":"2019","journal-title":"BMC Cancer"},{"key":"B6","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.clbc.2020.05.006","article-title":"Liver metastases-directed therapy in the management of oligometastatic breast cancer","volume":"20","author":"Franzese","year":"2020","journal-title":"Clin Breast Cancer"},{"key":"B7","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1200\/jco.2015.62.3504","article-title":"Annual hazard rates of recurrence for breast cancer during 24 years of follow-up: results from the international breast cancer study group trials I to V","volume":"34","author":"Colleoni","year":"2016","journal-title":"J Clin Oncol"},{"key":"B8","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1200\/jco.2009.25.9820","article-title":"Metastatic behavior of breast cancer subtypes","volume":"28","author":"Kennecke","year":"2010","journal-title":"J Clin Oncol"},{"key":"B9","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1200\/jco.1996.14.10.2738","article-title":"Annual hazard rates of recurrence for breast cancer after primary therapy","volume":"14","author":"Saphner","year":"1996","journal-title":"J Clin Oncol"},{"key":"B10","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1200\/jco.2009.24.9284","article-title":"Breast cancer subtypes and the risk of local and regional relapse","volume":"28","author":"Voduc","year":"2010","journal-title":"J Clin Oncol"},{"key":"B11","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/s00432-018-2644-2","article-title":"Patterns of breast cancer relapse in accordance to biological subtype","volume":"144","author":"Ignatov","year":"2018","journal-title":"J Cancer Res Clin Oncol"},{"key":"B12","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1365-2559.1991.tb00229.x","article-title":"Pathological prognostic factors in breast cancer. 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