Response To Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy And Survival In Japanese Patients With Triple-Negative Breast Cancer.

Abstract Background Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is defined by the lack of estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PgR), and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)expression. In this study, we compared response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy and survival between Japanese patients with TNBC and non-TNBC. Patients and Methods Analysis of a prospectively collected clinical database was performed. We analyzed 335 Japanese patients who received neoadjuvant chemotherapy at Hiroshima City Hospital for stage I-III breast cancer from 2002–2010. Clinical and pathological parameters, pathological complete response (pCR) rates, survival measurements, and organ specific relapse rates were compared between with TNBC and non-TNBC. Results: 21.1% had TNBC. Patients with TNBC compared with non-TNBC had not significantly higher pCR rate (28% v 19%; p=0.09), similar disease progression-free survival (DFS) rate (p=0.59), but decreased overall survival (OS) rate (p=0.02). TNBC was associated with increased risk for visceral metastasis (p<0.0001) and shorter postrecurrence survival (p=0.017). If pCR was achieved, patients with TNBC and non-TNBC had similar survival. In contrast, patients with residual disease (RD) had worse OS if they had TNBC compared with non-TNBC (p=0.01). Conclusion: TNBC patients with pCR after neoadjuvant chemotherapy have excellent survival. However, TNBC patients with RD have significantly worse survival, compared with non-TNBC patients with RD. Japanese patients with TNBC have also similar results with those in other ethnic group reported before. Citation Information: Cancer Res 2011;71(24 Suppl):Abstract nr P3-14-23.