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Abstract Previously, we found that patients with estrogen receptor (ER)-positive, HER2-low breast cancer are resistant to neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) and have worse outcomes than those who achieve pathological complete response (pCR) after NACT. This study aimed to investigate the prognosis and influencing factors in these patients. A total of 618 patients with ER-positive breast cancer who received standard thrice-weekly NACT were enrolled, including 411 patients with ER-positive, HER2-low breast cancer. Data on the clinicopathological features of these patients before and after NACT were collected. Univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses were used to identify the independent factors affecting 5-year disease-free survival (DFS). Among the ER-positive, HER2-low patients, 49 (11.9%) achieved a pCR after NACT. A significant difference in survival was observed between patients with and without residual disease after NACT. Additionally, changes in immunohistochemical markers and tumor stages before and after NACT were found to be significant. According to univariate and multivariate analyses, cN_stage (P = 0.002), ER (P = 0.002) and Ki67 (P = 0.023) expression before NACT were significantly associated with 5-year DFS, while pT_stage (P = 0.015), pN_stage (P = 0.029), ER (P = 0.020) and Ki67 (P

Abstract Background Pathological complete response (pCR) is the goal of neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT). We aimed to develop a nomogram to predict the probability of achieving pCR in estrogen receptor-positive (ER+), HER2-negative (HER2−) breast cancer patients. Methods A total of 273 ER+, HER2− breast cancer patients who received 4 cycles of thrice-weekly standard NACT in the First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University were retrospectively enrolled. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to screen the predictive factors to develop the nomograms. The discrimination and calibration abilities were assessed by the C-index, receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC), and calibration plot. Results There were 28 patients (10.3%) with overall pCR, 38 patients (13.9%) with breast pCR after NACT. ER expression, PgR expression, the neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and the Ki-67 index were independent predictive factors for achieving overall pCR. These indicators had good discrimination and calibration ability (AUC 0.843). The nomogram for breast pCR was established based on ER expression, PgR expression, the NLR, and the Ki-67 index and showed great discriminatory ability, with an AUC of 0.810. The calibration curve showed that the predictive ability of the nomogram was a good fit to actual observations. Conclusion The nomograms exhibited a sufficient discriminatory ability for predicting pCR after NACT in ER+, HER2− breast cancer patients. Utilizing these nomograms will enable us to identify patients at high probability for pCR after NACT and provide a reference for preoperative adjuvant therapy.

BackgroundTo characterize the clinicopathological features and evaluate the neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) efficacy of patients with human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-low breast cancer.MethodsA total of 905 breast cancer patients who received 4 cycles of thrice-weekly standard NACT in the First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University were retrospectively enrolled, including 685 cases with HER2-low expression and 220 cases with HER2-negative expression. Clinicopathological features were compared between patients with HER2-negative and HER2-low expression. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to find the independent factors of achieving a pathological complete response (pCR) after NACT.ResultsThere were significant differences in stage_N (P = 0.014), histological grade (P = 0.001), estrogen receptor (ER) status (P < 0.001), progesterone receptor (PgR) status (P < 0.001), NACT regimens (P = 0.032) and NACT efficacy (P = 0.037) between patients with HER2-negative and HER2-low expression breast cancer. In subgroup analysis, histological grade (P = 0.032), ER (P = 0.002), Ki-67 (P < 0.001) and HER2 status (P = 0.025) were independent predictors of achieving a pCR in ER-positive breast cancer. And the nomogram for pCR in ER-positive breast cancer showed great discriminatory ability with an AUC of 0.795. The calibration curve also showed that the predictive ability of the nomogram was a good fit to actual observations. Then, in the analysis of ER-negative breast cancer, only stage_N (P = 0.001) and Ki-67 (P = 0.018) were independent influencing factors of achieving a pCR in ER-negative breast cancer.ConclusionHER2-low breast cancer was a different disease from HER2-negative breast cancer in clinicopathological features. Moreover, the NACT efficacy of HER2-low breast cancer patients was poorer.