Tumor apelin and obesity are associated with reduced neoadjuvant chemotherapy response in a cohort of breast cancer patients

Sci Rep. 2021 May 10;11(1):9922. doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-89385-z.

Abstract

Obesity is a known factor increasing the risk of developing breast cancer and reducing disease free survival. In addition to these well-documented effects, recent studies have shown that obesity is also affecting response to chemotherapy. Among the multiple dysregulations associated with obesity, increased level of the apelin adipokine has been recently shown to be directly involved in the association between obesity and increased breast cancer progression. In this study, we analyzed in a retrospective cohort of 62 breast cancer patients the impact of obesity and tumoral apelin expression on response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy. In the multivariate logistic regression, obesity and high tumoral apelin expression were associated with a reduced response to NAC in our cohort. However, obesity and high tumoral apelin expression were not correlated, suggesting that those two parameters could be independently associated with reduced NAC response. These findings should be confirmed in independent cohorts.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / therapeutic use*
  • Apelin / analysis
  • Apelin / metabolism*
  • Body Mass Index
  • Breast / pathology
  • Breast / surgery
  • Breast Neoplasms / complications
  • Breast Neoplasms / epidemiology
  • Breast Neoplasms / pathology
  • Breast Neoplasms / therapy*
  • Chemotherapy, Adjuvant / statistics & numerical data
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Mastectomy
  • Middle Aged
  • Neoadjuvant Therapy / methods
  • Neoadjuvant Therapy / statistics & numerical data*
  • Obesity / complications
  • Obesity / epidemiology*
  • Retrospective Studies
  • Treatment Outcome

Substances

  • APLN protein, human
  • Apelin