Semi-quantified Oestrogen Receptor And Progesterone Receptor Status In Breast Cancer Patients Treated With Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy:Menstrual Status Is Critical To The Predictive Role Of These Receptors

Purpose:To explore the predictive indicators in hormone receptor(HR)-positive breast cancer(BC)patients receiving neoadjuvant chemotherapy(NAC)and evaluate the value of quantitative oestrogen receptor(ER)and progesterone receptor(PR)in predicting tumour response.Methods:Six hundred eight-nine BC patients with HR-positive breast cancer and treated with anthracycline,epirubicin and taxane NAC were retrospectively analysed.Clinical and pathological features of the patients were used to evaluate the response of NAC.Results:Patients with larger tumour sizes(OR 1.657 Cl 1.186-2.313 P=0.003),premenopausal state(OR 1.458 Cl 1.039-2.045 P=0.029),and higher Ki67 levels(OR 1.735 CI 1.231-2.444 P=0.002)had a better therapy response.In the postmenopausal subgroup,while patients with higher pretreatment ER(P=0.006)or PR(P=0.05)expression were inversely associated with tumour size reduction,the cut-off values for ER and PR were 87.5%and 65%,respectively.Decreasing expression of ER and PR was observed after NAC treatment(P=0.028 and P<0.001,respectively).However,the decreased expression of ER and PR has a predictive role in the Her-2 negative subgroup(P=0.044 and P<0.001),and the cut-off values for decreased ER and PR were 17.5%and 26.5%,respectively.Conclusions:The semi-quantified ER and PR can predict the effect of NAC for postmenopausal BC patients and decreased ER and PR expression is also associated with the tumour size reduction in the Her-2 negative subtypes treated with NAC.However,the predictive roles of semi-quantified ER and PR are not obvious in premenopausal BC patients,nor is there any connection between decreased HR expression and tumour size reduction in the Her-2 positive subgroup.