Abstract
The aim of this prospective study was to evaluate biological markers, their correlation with response and outcome, and the change in these markers under the influence of preoperative chemotherapy (PCT) in patients with a large primary breast cancer.
One hundred and thirty-five women were treated with PCT, followed by locoregional therapy and adjuvant treatment. Estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PgR), HER-2, p53, and cathepsin D were determined by immunohistochemistry (IHC) before and after PCT. The overall response (OR) was 70% and the pathologic complete response (pCR) was 13%. Forty-four percent of the patients could be offered breast-conserving surgery (BCS). At a median follow-up of 50 mo the overall survival is 82% and the disease-free survival is 70%. No local recurrence (LR) has developed following BCS.
Invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC) was more frequently ER-negative and HER-2-positive than invasive lobular carcinoma (ILC).
P53-negative and ER-negative patients seemed to be more chemosensitive compared to p53-positive patients (74% vs 53%) and ER-positive patients (75% vs 65%), but this difference did not reach statistical significance. A trend toward higher complete pathologic remission rate was seen for ER-negative patients (p=0.0609). PgR, HER-2, and cathepsin D were not related to response.
The pattern of biological markers did not change with PCT, making repeated determination useless.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Early Breast Cancer Trialists’ Collaborative Group. Polychemotherapy for early breast cancer: an overview of the randomized trials. Lancet 1998; 352:930–942.
Fisher B, et al. Effect of preoperative chemotherapy on the outcome of women with breast cancer. J Clin Oncol 1998;16:2672–2685.
Kuerer H, et al. Clinical course of breast cancer patients with complete pathologic primary tumor and axillary lymph node response to doxorubicin-based neoadjuvant chemotherapy. J Clin Oncol 1999; 17:460–469.
Bonadonna G, et al. Primary chemoterapy in operable breast cancer: eight-year experience at the Milan Cancer Institute. J Clin Oncol 1998; 16:93–100.
Goldhirsch A, et al. Meeting highlights: International consensus panel on the treatment of primary breast cancer. J Natl Cancer Inst 1998; 90:1601–1608.
Goldhirsch A, Glick J, Gelber R, Coates A, Senn H. Meeting highlights: international consensus panel on the treatment of primary breast cancer. J Clin Oncol 2001; 19:3817–3827.
Hamilton A, Piccart M. The contribution of molecular markers to the prediction of response in the treatment of breast cancer: a review of the literature on HER-2, p53 and BCL-2. Ann Oncol 2000; 11:647–663.
Levine M, et al. Randomized trial of intensive cyclophosphamide, epirubicin and fluorouracil chemotherapy compared with cyclophosphamide, methotrexate, and fluorouracil in premenopausal women with node-positive breast cancer. J Clin Oncol 1998; 16:2651–2658.
Harvey JM, Clark GM, Osborne CK, Allred DC. Estrogen receptor status by immunohistochemistry is superior to the ligand-binding assay for predicting response to adjuvant endocrine therapy in breast cancer. J Clin Oncol 1999; 17:1474–1481.
Van de Vijver MJ. Assessment of the need and appropriate method for testing for the human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 (HER2). Eur J Cancer 2001;37:S11-S17.
Jacobs TW, Gown AM, Yaziji H, Barnes M, Schnitt SJ. Comparison of fluorescence in situ hybridization and immunohistochemistry for the evaluation of HER-2/neu in breast cancer. J Clin Oncol 1999; 17:1974–1982.
Rozan S, et al. No significant predictive value of c-erbB-2 or p53 expression regarding sensitivity to primary chemotherapy or radiotherapy in breast cancer. Int J Cancer 1998; 79:27–33.
Tetu B, et al. Prognostic significance of cathepsin D expression in node-positive breast carcinoma: an immunohistochemical study. Int J Cancer 1993; 55:429–435.
Chang J, et al. Biologic markers as predictors of clinical outcome from systemic chemoendocrine therapy for primary operable breast cancer. J Clin Oncol 1999; 17:3058–3063.
Slamon D, et al. Use of chemotherapy plus a monoclonal antibody against HER2 for metastatic breast cancer that overexpresses HER2. N Engl J Med 2001: 344:783–792.
Yamauchi H, Stearns V, Hayes D. When is a tumormarker ready for prime time? A case study of c-erbB-2 as a predictive factor in breast cancer. J Clin Oncol 2001; 19:2334–2356.
Buchholz T, et al. Predictors of local-regional recurrence after neoadjuvant chemotherapy and mastectomy without radiation. J Clin Oncol 2002; 20:17–23.
Van der Hage J, et al. Preoperative chemotherapy in primary operable breast cancer: results from the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer trial 10902. J Clin Oncol 2001; 19:4224–4237.
Hutcheon AW, et al. Improvements in survival in patients receiving primary chemotherapy with docetaxel for breast cancer: a randomised controlled trial. 24th Annual San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, December 10–13, 2001; abstract 506.
Colleoni M, et al. Response to primary chemotherapy in breast cancer patients with tumors not expressing estrogen and progesterone receptors. Ann Oncol 2000; 11:1057–1059.
Daidone M, et al. Biological markers as indicators of response to primary and adjuvant chemotherapy in breast cancer. Int J Cancer (Pred Oncol) 1999; 84:580–586.
MacGrogan G, et al. Primary chemotherapy in breast invasive carcinoma: predictive value of the immunohistochemical detection of hormonal receptors, p53, c-erbB-2, MiB1, pS2 and GST γ. Br J Cancer 1996; 74:1458–1465.
Makris A, et al. Prediction of response to neoadjuvant chemoendocrine therapy in primary breast carcinomas. Clin Cancer Res 1997; 3:593–600.
Allred DC, et al. Association of p53′ protein expression with tumor cell proliferation rate and clinical outcome in node-negative breast cancer. J Natl Cancer Inst 1993; 85:200–206.
Ferreira CG, Tolis C, Giaccone G. P53 and chemosensitivity. Ann Oncol 1999; 10:1011–1021.
Makris A, et al. Prediction of response to neoadjuvant chemoendocrine therapy in primary breast carcinomas. Clin Cancer Res 1997; 3:593–600.
Geisler S, et al. Influence of TP53 gene alterations and c-erbB2 expression on the response to treatment with doxorubicin in locally advanced breast cancer. Cancer Res 2001; 61:2505–2512.
Aas T, et al. Specific p53 mutations are associated with de novo resistance to doxorubicin in breast cancer patients. Nat Med 1996; 2:811–813.
Muss HB, et al. C-erbB-2 expression and response to adjuvant therapy in women with node-positive early breast cancer. N Engl J Med 1994; 330:1260–1266.
Gusterson BA, et al. Prognostic importance of c-erbB-2 expression in breast cancer. J Clin Oncol 1992; 10:1049–1056.
Rochefort H. Biological and clinical significance of cathepsin D in breast cancer. Acta Oncol 1992; 31:125–130.
Mathieu M, Rochefort H, Barenton B, Prebois C, Vignon F. Interactions of cathepsin-D and insulin-like growth factor-II (IGF-II) on the IGF-11/mannose-6-phosphate receptor in human breast cancer cells and possible consequences on mitogenic activity of IGF-II. Mol Endocrinol 1990; 4:1327–1335.
Niskanen E, Blomqvist C, Franssila K, Hietanen P, Wasenius VM, Predictive value of c-erbB-2, p53, cathepsin D and histology of the primary tumour in metastatic breast cancer. Br J Cancer 1997; 76:917–922.
Daidone MG, et al. Changes in biological markers after primary chemotherapy for breast cancers. Int J Cancer 1995; 61(3):301–305.
Frassoldati A, et al. Changes in biological features in breast cancer cells determined by primary chemotherapy. Breast Cancer Res Treat 1997; 44:185–192.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Cocquyt, V.F., Schelfhout, V.R., Blondeel, P.N. et al. The role of biological markers as predictors of response to preoperative chemotherapy in large primary breast cancer. Med Oncol 20, 221–231 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1385/MO:20:3:221
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1385/MO:20:3:221