Abstract
Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) refers to any breast cancer that does not express the genes for ER, PgR, HER2. In this study, we compared for response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy and survival between patients with TNBC and those with non-TNBC. Subjects were consecutive 335 patients who received neoadjuvant chemotherapy for stage I-III breast cancer in our hospital from 2002 to 2010. Clinical and pathological parameters, pathological complete response (pCR) rates, survival rates were compared between those with TNBC and non-TNBC. About 21.1% of the subjects had TNBC.
Compared with non-TNBC patients, TNBC patients showed a high pCR rate (19% vs. 28% ; p=0.09), without significant difference. TNBC and non-TNBC patients who gained pCR with neoadjuvant chemotherapy showed favorable disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) rate, without significant fidderences. On the other hand, there was no significant difference in DFS between TNBC and non-TNBC patients who had residual disease (p=0.02), but a significantly low OS rate was noted in TNBC patients compared with non-TNBC patients (p<0.01).
If pCR can be achieved, both patients with TNBC and non-TNBC would have similar survival. In contrast, patients TNBC who have residual disease (RD) are expected to show poor OS compared with such non-TNBC (p=0.01) patients.
