title: Breast cancer subtypes and survival in chinese women with operable primary breast cancer.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the associations between the different breast cancer subtypes and survival in Chinese women with operable primary breast cancer.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 1538 Chinese women with operable primary breast cancer were analyzed in this study, the median follow-up was 77 months. Estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR), and HER2 status were available for these patients.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Luminal A (ER+ and/or PR+, HER2-) had a favorable disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) compared with other subtypes in the entire cohort. Using the luminal A as a reference, among the patients with lymph node positive disease, HER2+ (ER-, PR-, HER2+) had the worst DFS (hazard ratio, HR=1.80, 95% CI 1.11 to 2.91, P=0.017) and luminal B (ER+ and/or PR+, HER2+) had the worst OS (HR=2.27, 95% CI 1.50 to 3.45, P<0.001); among the patients with lymph node negative disease, triple-negative (ER-, PR-, HER2-) had the worst DFS (HR=2.21, 95% CI 1.43 to 3.41, P<0.001), whereas no significant difference in DFS between HER2+ and luminal B or luminal A was observed.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  As compared with luminal A, luminal B and HER2+ have the worst survival in patients with lymph node positive disease, but this is not the case in patients with lymph node negative disease; triple-negative subtype has a worse survival in both lymph node positive and lymph node negative patients.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Carcinogenesis and Translational Research (Ministry of Education), Breast Center, Peking University School of Oncology, Beijing Cancer Hospital & Institute, Beijing 100142, China.
authors.forename: Zhao-Sheng
authors.initials: ZS
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Lu
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Yao
authors.forename: Yi-Qiang
authors.initials: YQ
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Tao
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ouyang
authors.forename: Jin-Feng
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Tian-Feng
authors.initials: TF
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Zhao-Qing
authors.initials: ZQ
authors.lastname: Fan
authors.forename: Tie
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Fan
authors.forename: Ben-Yao
authors.initials: BY
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Yun-Tao
authors.initials: YT
authors.lastname: Xie
keywords: Breast cancer; Disease-free survival; Overall survival; Subtypes