Analysis of the clinicopathological characteristics and prognosis of triple-positive breast cancer and HER2-positive breast cancer-A retrospective study

Dongxu Ma; Qing Yang; Ke Yin; Peng Shi; Xiao Chen; Tianyi Dong; Xingchen Shang; Xingsong Tian

doi:10.3389/fonc.2022.999894

Analysis of the clinicopathological characteristics and prognosis of triple-positive breast cancer and HER2-positive breast cancer-A retrospective study

Front Oncol. 2023 Jan 12:12:999894. doi: 10.3389/fonc.2022.999894. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Dongxu Ma¹, Qing Yang², Ke Yin³, Peng Shi², Xiao Chen², Tianyi Dong², Xingchen Shang^{1

2}, Xingsong Tian^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Breast and Thyroid surgery, Shandong Provincial Hospital, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong, China.
² Department of Breast and Thyroid Surgery, Shandong Provincial Hospital, Shandong First Medical University, Jinan, Shandong, China.
³ Department of Pathology, Shandong Provincial Hospital, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong, China.

Abstract

Background: Adjuvant chemotherapy and targeted therapy have become standard postoperative therapeutic modalities for human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-positive breast cancer(HER2-positive,HR-negative), including triple-positive breast cancer(HER2-positive,HR-positive). However, these two types of breast cancer differ in terms of pathogenesis. This article analyzes these two types of breast cancer by comparing their prognoses.

Methods: The clinicopathological characteristics of 135 patients, including 60 patients with triple-positive breast cancer and 75 patients with HER2-positive breast cancer, were analyzed to compare the disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) of the two groups over a 5-year period. A multifactorial Cox risk model was constructed by grouping age, menstrual status, maximum tumor diameter, number of lymph node metastases, pathological staging, and Ki-67 staining results. All statistical data were analyzed in detail using SPSS25.0 statistical software.

Results: The 5-year OS rates of patients with breast cancer in the triple-positive and HER2-positive groups were 96.7% and 82.7%, respectively, and the 5-year DFS rates were 90% and 73.3%, respectively. The Cox results revealed that molecular staging was an independent factor affecting recurrent metastasis and survival of breast cancer patients (hazard ratio [HR] =2.199, 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.296-8.266; HR = 9.994, 95% CI, 2.019-49.465).

Conclusion: The 5-year DFS and OS rates were significantly better in the triple-positive group than in the HER2-positive group. Subgroups received different prognosis for different chemotherapy regimens. Breast cancer patients should be treated according to the risk of recurrence with symptomatic treatment and precise regulation.

Keywords: HER2-positive breast cancer; adjuvant chemotherapy; clinicopathological characteristics; hormone receptors; prognosis; targeted therapy; triple-positive breast cancer.