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Increasing steroid hormone receptors expression defines breast cancer subtypes non responsive to preoperative chemotherapy

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Abstract

The predictive role of the degree of endocrine responsiveness to preoperative chemotherapy (PCT) is unclear. We reviewed pretreatment biopsies of 553 patients with locally advanced breast cancer who were treated with PCT. The incidence of pathological complete remission (pCR) and outcome were assessed with respect to the degree of estrogen (ER) and progesterone receptor (PgR) expression (ER and PgR absent, vs. ER or PgR 0–49%, vs. ER and PgR ≥50% of the cells positive). A statistically significant higher pCR rate was observed at the multivariate analysis for patients with ER and PgR absent tumors (17.7%) versus patients with tumors expressing high ER and PgR (0%) (OR 14.4 P < 0.001). Despite the higher incidence of pCR, a statistically significant worse disease-free survival (DFS), and overall survival (OS) was observed for patients with ER and PgR absent tumors versus patients with tumors expressing high ER and PgR (HR 6.4, 95% CI 3.5–11.6, for DFS; HR 3.6 95% CI 2.4–5.6 for OS). Response and outcome after PCT are correlated with the degree of expression of steroid hormone receptors. Studies on tailored preoperative therapies are needed.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the patients, nurses and physicians at the European Institute of Oncology.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Unit in Medical Senology, Department of Medicine, European Institute of Oncology, Via Ripamonti 435, 20141, Milan, Italy

    Marco Colleoni, Rosalba Torrisi, Anna Cardillo, Emilia Montagna, Elisabetta Campagnoli & Eloise Scarano

  2. Division of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, European Institute of Oncology, Milan, Italy

    Vincenzo Bagnardi & Nicole Rotmensz

  3. Department of Statistics, University of Milan-Bicocca, Milan, Italy

    Vincenzo Bagnardi

  4. Frontier Science and Technology Research Foundation, Southern Europe, Milan, Italy

    Vincenzo Bagnardi

  5. International Breast Cancer Study Group, Statistical Center, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Frontier Science and Technology Research Foundation, Boston, MA, USA

    Richard D. Gelber

  6. Division of Pathology, European Institute of Oncology, Milan, Italy

    Giuseppe Viale & Giancarlo Pruneri

  7. University of Milan School of Medicine, Milan, Italy

    Giuseppe Viale, Giancarlo Pruneri & Paolo Veronesi

  8. Division of Senology, European Institute of Oncology, Milan, Italy

    Paolo Veronesi, Alberto Luini, Mattia Intra & Viviana Galimberti

  9. Department of Medicine, European Institute of Oncology, Milan, Italy

    Giulia Peruzzotti & Aron Goldhirsch

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  1. Marco Colleoni
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Correspondence to Marco Colleoni.

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Colleoni, M., Bagnardi, V., Rotmensz, N. et al. Increasing steroid hormone receptors expression defines breast cancer subtypes non responsive to preoperative chemotherapy. Breast Cancer Res Treat 116, 359–369 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10549-008-0223-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10549-008-0223-y

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