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DOI: 10.1055/s-0036-1592807
Her2-neu score as a prognostic factor for outcome in patients with triple-negative breast cancer
Purpose: Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is characterized by a strong heterogeneity as well in the tumour biology as in the clinical course of disease. This study has the aim to analyse if there are any prognostic factors which are able to predict the individual outcome of patients with TNBC. Main goal of this analysis is to find out if there are any differences with regard to the chances of survival between patients with TNBC and a Her2-neu score 0 versus 1+2.
Experimental Design: Retrospectively, we studied a cohort of 1013 patients with TNBC, diagnosed at seven hospitals between May 2002 and February 2015. We compared the disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) in those women on the basis of the different Her2-neu scores (0 versus 1 or 2 with negative FISH).
Results: 1013 patients were included in this study. 44.13% of them had a T2 – 4 tumour.
31.00% were nodal positive and 70.48% had high grade tumours. The Her2-neu score of all participating patients was determined. 58.03% of them had a Her2-neu score 0. We found out that in addition to tumour size and nodal status the Her2-neu score is an important prognostic factor. This study shows that TNBC patients with a Her2-neu score 0 had a significantly poorer outcome regarding DFS (p = 0.0001) and OS (p = 0.0051). In contrast grading does not seem to have any prognostic value in TNBC.
Conclusion: The Her2-neu score 0 is able to function as a prognostic factor in patients with TNBC.