Objective: Linc00665 is a novel long non-coding RNA that can promote the progression of breast cancer, but its value in predicting the efficacy of neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) for breast cancer has not been reported. We aim to analyze the correlation between Linc00665 expression and pathological complete response (pCR) in breast cancer patients.
Materials and methods: The present study examined the predictive role of Linc00665 expression in pCR after NAC using both univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve and area under curve (AUC) were utilized to evaluate the performance of Linc00665 in predicting pCR. The Kyoto Encyclopedia of Gene and Genome (KEGG) analysis and Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) were also conducted to determine the biological processes where Linc00665 may participate in.
Results: The present study study totally enrolled 102 breast cancer patients. The univariate analysis showed that Linc00665 level, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) status and hormone receptor (HR) status were correlated with pCR. The multivariate analysis showed that Linc00665 expression was an independent predictor of pCR (OR = 0.351, 95% CI: 0.125-0.936, P = 0.040), especially in patients with HR-positive/HER2-negative subtype (OR = 0.272, 95% CI: 0.104-0.664, P = 0.005). The KEGG analysis indicated that Linc00665 may be involved in drug metabolism. The GSEA analysis revealed that Linc00665 is correlated to DNA damage repair.
Conclusion: Linc00665 may be a potential novel predictive biomarker for breast cancer in NAC, especially for HR-positive/HER2-negative patients.
Keywords: breast cancer; long non-coding RNA; neoadjuvant chemotherapy; pathological complete response; predictive biomarker.
Copyright © 2021 Dai, Sheng, Sha, Peng, Yang, Zhou, Lin, Xu, Zhang, Yin and Lu.