Prognostic impact of clinicopathologic parameters in stage II/III breast cancer treated with neoadjuvant docetaxel and doxorubicin chemotherapy: paradoxical features of the triple negative breast cancer.
BACKGROUND
Prognostic factors in locally advanced breast cancer treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy differ from those of early breast cancer. The purpose of this study was to identify the clinical significance of potential predictive and prognostic factors in breast cancer patients treated by neoadjuvant chemotherapy.


METHODS
A total of 145 stage II and III breast cancer patients received neoadjuvant docetaxel/doxorubicin chemotherapy were enrolled in this study. We examined the clinical and biological factors (ER, PR, p53, c-erbB2, bcl-2, and Ki-67) by immunohistochemistry. We analyzed clinical outcome and their correlation with clinicopathologic parameters.


RESULTS
Among the clinicopathologic parameters investigated, none of the marker was correlated with response rate (RR) except triple negative phenotype. Patients with triple negative phenotype showed higher RR (83.0% in triple negative vs. 62.2% in non-triple negative, p = 0.012) and pathologic complete RR (17.0% in triple negative vs. 3.1% in non-triple negative, p = 0.005). However, relapse free survival (RFS) and overall survival (OS) were significantly shorter in triple negative breast cancer patients (p < 0.001, p = 0.021, respectively). Low histologic grade, positive hormone receptors, positive bcl-2 and low level of Ki-67 were associated with prolonged RFS. In addition, positive ER and positive bcl-2 were associated with prolonged OS. In our homogeneous patient population, initial clinical stage reflects RFS and OS more precisely than pathologic stage. In multivariate analysis, initial clinical stage was the only significant independent prognostic factor to impact on OS (hazard ratio 3.597, p = 0.044).


CONCLUSIONS
Several molecular markers provided useful predictive and prognostic information in stage II and III breast cancer patients treated with neoadjuvant docetaxel/doxorubicin chemotherapy. Triple negative phenotype was associated with shorter survival, even though it was associated with a higher response rate to neoadjuvant chemotherapy.
Keam
Bhumsuk
B
Department of Internal Medicine, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea. bhumsuk@medimail.co.kr
Im
Seock-Ah
SA
Kim
Hee-Jun
HJ
Oh
Do-Youn
DY
Kim
Jee Hyun
JH
Lee
Se-Hoon
SH
Chie
Eui Kyu
EK
Han
Wonshik
W
Kim
Dong-Wan
DW
Moon
Woo Kyung
WK
Kim
Tae-You
TY
Park
In Ae
IA
Noh
Dong-Young
DY
Heo
Dae Seog
DS
Ha
Sung Whan
SW
Bang
Yung-Jue
YJ
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage; D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000378:metabolism; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D000077143:Docetaxel; D004317:Doxorubicin / Q000008:administration & dosage; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008875:Middle Aged; D020360:Neoadjuvant Therapy; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D010641:Phenotype; D011379:Prognosis; D043823:Taxoids / Q000008:administration & dosage
D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D015415:Biomarkers; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins; D043823:Taxoids; D000077143:Docetaxel; D004317:Doxorubicin