Pathological complete response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy in triple negative breast cancer - single hospital experience

BackgroundTriple-negative breast cancer is a heterogeneous molecular subtype of BC. Pathological complete response (pCR) is an important surrogate marker for recurrence-free and overall survival.Aim of studyThe aim of this study was to evaluate clinical and pathological factors that are associated with complete pathological response status in triple-negative breast cancer patients receiving neoadjuvant chemotherapy.Materials and methodsEighty triple-negative breast cancer patients who underwent neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by surgery at Pauls Stradins Clinical University Hospital between January 2018 and January 2020 were retrospectively analysed. Twenty-six patients (32.5%) were BRCA1/2 pathogenic variant carriers.ResultsA total of 32.5% (n = 26) of patients in all study groups and 57.7% (n = 15) of patients with BRCA1/2 pathogenic variants achieved pCR. Forty-seven patients received platinum-based neoadjuvant chemotherapy, and 19 patients (40.4%) achieved complete pathological response. Patients in the pCR group presented with significantly higher Ki-67 scores (p = 0.007), BRCA1/2 pathogenic variants (p = 0.001) and younger age (p = 0.02) than those in the non-pCR group. pCR did not significantly impact recurrence-free survival (RFS) or overall survival (OS). Multivariate analysis revealed that pretreatment N stage (clinical nodal status) was an independent prognostic factor for RFS and OS.ConclusionsBRCA1 pathogenic variants, high Ki67 score and young age were predictors of pathological complete response, while clinical nodal status predicted survival outcomes in triple-negative breast cancer.