title: Prognostic value of hormone receptor status conversion following neoadjuvant chemotherapy in a series of operable breast cancer patients.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  To investigate the prognostic value of hormone receptor (HR) status conversion after neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) in patients with primary breast cancer.
  
  
  METHODS
  267 stage II-III breast cancer patients treated with NAC who had residual disease in the breast after NAC were retrospectively studied. The patients were divided into four groups based on the HR status: Group A, patients with HR-positive both before and after NAC; Group B, patients with HR status positive-to-negative change; Group C, patients with HR status negative-to-positive change; Group D, patients with HR-negative both before and after NAC. Patients with positive HR status (regardless of before or after NAC) were treated with adjuvant endocrine therapy, and a survival analysis was performed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In total, 15.7% of patients had HR status change after NAC. progression-free survival (PFS) in Group A was similar to that in Group C (hazard ratio, 1.16; P = 0.652), but that in Group B was significantly lesser than that in Group A (hazard ratio, 6.88; P = 0.001), and that in Group C was significantly longer than that in Group D (hazard ratio, 6.88; P = 0.001). A similar pattern of results was obtained for overall survival (OS).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The switch of HR status after NAC is remarkable for breast cancer. An HR switch may identify patients who would benefit from adjuvant endocrine therapy and impact the long-term outcome.
authors.affiliation: Department of Breast Surgery, Guangxi Medical University Tumor Hospital Nanning, China.
authors.forename: Qi-Xing
authors.initials: QX
authors.lastname: Tan
authors.affiliation: Department of Breast Surgery, Guangxi Medical University Tumor Hospital Nanning, China.
authors.forename: Qing-Hong
authors.initials: QH
authors.lastname: Qin
authors.affiliation: Department of Ultrasound Diagnosis, Guangxi Medical University Tumor Hospital Nanning, China.
authors.forename: Wei-Ping
authors.initials: WP
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Department of Breast Surgery, Guangxi Medical University Tumor Hospital Nanning, China.
authors.forename: Bin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Lian
authors.affiliation: Department of Breast Surgery, Guangxi Medical University Tumor Hospital Nanning, China.
authors.forename: Chang-Yuan
authors.initials: CY
authors.lastname: Wei
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000401:mortality; D002277:Carcinoma / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000401:mortality; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008875:Middle Aged; D020360:Neoadjuvant Therapy; D011379:Prognosis; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D011960:Receptors, Estrogen / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D011980:Receptors, Progesterone / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D012189:Retrospective Studies
chemical_list: D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases; D011960:Receptors, Estrogen; D011980:Receptors, Progesterone; C508053:ERBB2 protein, human
keywords: Breast cancer; changes; hormone receptor; neoadjuvant chemotherapy