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Published in: Annals of Surgical Oncology 5/2013

01-05-2013 | Breast Oncology

Lack of Either Estrogen or Progesterone Receptor Expression Is Associated with Poor Survival Outcome among Luminal A Breast Cancer Subtype

Authors: Seho Park, MD, Byeong-Woo Park, PhD, Tae Hyun Kim, MD, Chang Wan Jeon, PhD, Han-Sung Kang, PhD, Jung-Eun Choi, MD, Ki-Tae Hwang, MD, In Cheol Kim, MD

Published in: Annals of Surgical Oncology | Issue 5/2013

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Abstract

Background

This study was designed to evaluate the impact of lack of either estrogen receptor (ER) or progesterone receptor (PR) on characteristics and outcomes among luminal A breast cancer subtype treated with endocrine with or without chemotherapeutic agents.

Methods

The luminal A subtype was categorized into three subgroups: ER+/PR+, ER+/PR−, and ER−/PR+. All tumors were human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) negative. Clinicopathological features and survival were analyzed using the Severance Hospital dataset (n = 1,180) and were validated by the nationwide Korean Breast Cancer Society (KBCS) registry (n = 9,916).

Results

Despite the different distribution of ER/PR status, tumor stage, grade, and local therapies between the two datasets, similarly ER+/PR+ showed smaller size and good differentiation, ER+/PR− patients had the oldest age at diagnosis, and ER−/PR+ was associated with the youngest age at onset and grade III tumor. Single hormone receptor-positive subgroups demonstrated worse disease-related outcomes than the ER+/PR+ subgroup. These associations were confirmed by the KBCS dataset. This trend was also demonstrated in the subpopulation of 1,944 patients with Ki-67 < 14 %. Inferior survival of single receptor-positive tumors was more definite among node-positive patients even when receiving both chemo-endocrine therapies.

Conclusions

Current results suggest that the luminal A subtype is also heterogeneous and each subgroup has unique clinicopathologic characteristics. Lack of either ER or PR expression is associated with worse survival, especially among node-positive luminal A subtype.
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Metadata
Title
Lack of Either Estrogen or Progesterone Receptor Expression Is Associated with Poor Survival Outcome among Luminal A Breast Cancer Subtype
Authors
Seho Park, MD
Byeong-Woo Park, PhD
Tae Hyun Kim, MD
Chang Wan Jeon, PhD
Han-Sung Kang, PhD
Jung-Eun Choi, MD
Ki-Tae Hwang, MD
In Cheol Kim, MD
Publication date
01-05-2013
Publisher
Springer-Verlag
Published in
Annals of Surgical Oncology / Issue 5/2013
Print ISSN: 1068-9265
Electronic ISSN: 1534-4681
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1245/s10434-012-2772-x

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