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BMC Cancer
Published in: BMC Cancer 1/2015

Open Access 01-12-2015 | Research article

Poor prognosis of single hormone receptor- positive breast cancer: similar outcome as triple-negative breast cancer

Authors: Soo Youn Bae, Sangmin Kim, Jun Ho Lee, Hyun-chul Lee, Se Kyung Lee, Won Ho Kil, Seok Won Kim, Jeong Eon Lee, Seok Jin Nam

Published in: BMC Cancer | Issue 1/2015

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Abstract

Background

Response to endocrine therapy in breast cancer correlates with estrogen receptor (ER) and progesterone receptor (PR) status. Generally, hormone receptor-positive (HR+) breast cancers have favorable prognosis. In order to understand the exact clinical characteristics and prognosis of single HR-positive breast cancer (ER + PR- tumors and ER-PR+ tumors), we compared these tumors to double HR+ tumors as well as HR- negative tumors (ER-PR-).

Methods

We examined the clinical and biological features of 6,980 women with invasive ductal carcinoma, and these patients were stratified according to ER and PR expression as double HR+ (ER + PR+), single HR+ (ER + PR- and ER-PR+) and double HR-negative (HR-, ER-PR-) tumors.

Results

In this study, 571 (8.2%) cases were single HR+ tumors, of which 90 (1.3%) were ER-PR+ tumors and 481 (6.9%) were ER + PR- tumors. Our multivariate analysis showed that in patients without HER2 overexpression ER + PR- tumors were associated with an increased risk of recurrence and death compared with ER + PR+ tumors, with a hazard ratio of 2.12 for disease-free survival (DFS) and 4.79 for overall survival (OS). In patients without HER2 overexpression ER-PR+ tumors had increased risk of recurrence and death compared with ER + PR+ tumor, with a hazard ratio of 4.19 for DFS and 7.22 for OS. In contrast, in patients with HER2 overexpression, the difference in survival between single HR+ tumors and double HR+ HR- tumors was not statistically significant. In patients without HER2 overexpression the DFS and OS of ER + PR- and ER-PR+ tumors were not significantly different from those of ER-PR- tumors.

Conclusion

We have identified clinically and biologically distinct features of single HR+ tumors (ER–PR+ and ER + PR–) through comparison with both ER + PR+ and ER-PR- tumors. These differences were only significant in HER2- tumors, not in HER2+ tumors. Single HR+ tumors without HER2 overexpression (ER + PR-HER2- or ER-PR + HER2-) were associated with poorer survival than ER + PR + HER2- tumors, and had comparable poor survival to ER-PR-HER2- tumors (triple-negative breast cancer).
Appendix
Available only for authorised users
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Metadata
Title
Poor prognosis of single hormone receptor- positive breast cancer: similar outcome as triple-negative breast cancer
Authors
Soo Youn Bae
Sangmin Kim
Jun Ho Lee
Hyun-chul Lee
Se Kyung Lee
Won Ho Kil
Seok Won Kim
Jeong Eon Lee
Seok Jin Nam
Publication date
01-12-2015
Publisher
BioMed Central
Published in
BMC Cancer / Issue 1/2015
Electronic ISSN: 1471-2407
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12885-015-1121-4

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