Predictors of Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy Response in Breast Cancer: A Review

Weilin Xu,* Xiu Chen,* Fei Deng, Jian Zhang, Wei Zhang, Jinhai Tang Department of General Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing 210029, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Jinhai TangDepartment of General Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing 210029, People’s Republic of ChinaTel +86 13705163889Email jhtang@njmu.edu.cnAbstract: Neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) largely increases operative chances and improves prognosis of the local advanced breast cancer patients. However, no specific means have been invented to predict the therapy responses of patients receiving NAC. Therefore, we focus on the alterations of tumor tissue-related microenvironments such as stromal tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes status, cyclin-dependent kinase expression, non-coding RNA transcription or other small molecular changes, in order to detect potentially predicted biomarkers which reflect the therapeutic efficacy of NAC in different subtypes of breast cancer. Further, possible mechanisms are also discussed to discover feasible treatment targets. Thus, these findings will be helpful to promote the prognosis of breast cancer patients who received NAC and summarized in this review.Keywords: breast cancer, neoadjuvant, chemotherapy, response, predictor