title: Triple negative breast cancer compared to hormone receptor negative/HER2 positive breast cancer.
abstract: The aim of this study is to reveal likely demographic, clinical, and pathological differences among hormone receptor negative breast cancer patients according to their HER-2 status. The medical records of hormone receptor negative breast cancer patients with known HER-2 status between January 1999 and December 2006 were reviewed, retrospectively. A total of 91 cases were included in the study (68 HER-2 negative cases and 23 HER-2 positive cases). The results obtained showed that median age, menarche age, childbearing age, number of children, menopause age, and body-mass indexes were similar in both groups. The HER-2 negative patients had more family history of breast cancer than HER-2 positive patients (13.2% and 0%, respectively, P = 0.091). Eighty-three patients received neoadjuvant/adjuvant chemotherapy. Recurrence occurred in 41 (46.6%) patients. Neither recurrence nor disease-free survival of those patients was associated with HER-2 status. Tumor size (P = 0.042) and number of involved lymph nodes (P = 0.001) were found to be independent prognostic factors for disease-free survival. A tendency for more frequent cerebral metastasis was found in HER-2 positive advanced stage patients (P = 0.052). HER-2 positive patients were less responsive to taxanes (P = 0.071). The number of involved lymph nodes (P = 0.004) and HER-2 status (P = 0.043) were found to be prognostic factors for overall survival. HER-2 positive and negative patients should be followed and treated with different strategies. HER-2 positive patients are at least as resistant to systemic therapies as the HER-2 negative patients. Genetic counseling should be routinely provided to triple negative patients and their families. HER-2 positive patients may be candidates for prophylactic treatment strategies concerning cerebral metastasis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, Faculty of Medicine, Trakya University, Hastanesi Medikal Onkoloji Bilim Dali, 22030 Edirne, Turkey. irfancicin@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Irfan
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Cicin
authors.forename: Hakan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Karagol
authors.forename: Ufuk
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Usta
authors.forename: Atakan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sezer
authors.forename: Sernaz
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Uzunoglu
authors.forename: Rusen
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Alas-Cosar
authors.forename: Tarkan
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yetisyigit
authors.forename: Kazim
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Uygun
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology* / Q000628:therapy; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008875:Middle Aged; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis; D011379:Prognosis; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D011960:Receptors, Estrogen / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D011980:Receptors, Progesterone / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D012008:Recurrence; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014421:Turkey / Q000453:epidemiology
chemical_list: D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases; D011960:Receptors, Estrogen; D011980:Receptors, Progesterone; C508053:ERBB2 protein, human