Open Access

ARTICLE

Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy in Triple Negative Breast Cancer: An Observational Study

Zhiying Shao^*†, Shalini Chaudhri^‡, Meng Guo^§, Longzhen Zhang^¶, Daniel Rea^#

* School of Cancer Sciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK
† Department of Medical Oncology, Affiliated Hospital of Xuzhou Medical College, Jiangsu, China
‡ Department of Histopathology, University Hospital Birmingham, Birmingham, UK
§ Department of Breast and Thyroid Surgery, Affiliated Hospital of Xuzhou Medical College, Jiangsu, China
¶ Department of Radiation Oncology, Affiliated Hospital of Xuzhou Medical College, Jiangsu, China
# Cancer Research UK Clinical Trials Unit (CRCTU), University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK

Oncology Research 2015, 23(6), 291-302. https://doi.org/10.3727/096504016X14562725373879

Abstract

Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) is a phenotype of breast cancer with aggressive clinical behavior. Because of the absence of optimal treatment, the prognosis of this disease is poor. The main purpose of this study was to detect the response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) in a TNBC cohort and compare the long-term survival between patients with and without pathological complete response (pCR). A total of 53 patients diagnosed with TNBC from 2005 to 2013 who received NACT at the University Hospital Birmingham were enrolled in this study. Overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) were compared between the pCR group and non-pCR group. Demographic information and clinical or pathologic parameters were also analyzed to explore potential predictive and prognostic factors. Fourteen patients (26.4%) achieved pCR to NACT. In univariate analysis, patients with pCR had longer PFS time (p=0.013) and OS time (p=0.054) compared with their counterparts without pCR. In multivariate analysis, the existence of lymphovascular invasion (LVI) significantly reduced OS (HR=17.404, 95% CI=2.923–103.644) and PFS (HR=7.776, 95% CI=1.645–36.753). The achievement of pCR to NACT can significantly postpone the incidence of disease progression in patients with TNBC. There is not enough evidence showing its influence on ultimate survival. LVI may be a more potent prognostic factor than pCR in the TNBC cohort.

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