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. 2016 Jan 1;7(2):167-73.
doi: 10.7150/jca.10944. eCollection 2016.

Comparison of Clinicopathological Features and Prognosis in Triple-Negative and Non-Triple Negative Breast Cancer

Jingdan Qiu  1 , Xinying Xue  2 , Chao Hu  3 , Hu Xu  1 , Deqiang Kou  1 , Rong Li  1 , Ming Li  3
Affiliations

Comparison of Clinicopathological Features and Prognosis in Triple-Negative and Non-Triple Negative Breast Cancer

Jingdan Qiu et al. J Cancer. .

Abstract

Purpose: Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) has attracted more attention both clinically and experimentally because of its high-risk biological characteristics and lacking of effective treatment method. The purpose of this retrospective study was to find out the incidence of triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) in all kinds of breast cancers and to compare and analyze the clinicopathological features, recurrence, metastasis and prognosis of patients with TNBC and non-triple negative breast cancer (non-TNBC).

Methods: A total of 1578 female patients with primary breast cancer were diagnosed and treated at the department of General Surgery, the Chinese PLA General Hospital, China, from Jan. 2004 to Jun. 2009. The 1578 breast cancer patients were divided into two groups: the TNBC group and the non-TNBC group. The clinical features and prognosis of the two groups were compared.

Results: The incidence of TNBC was 20.41%. Compared with the non-TNBC, the TNBC were characterized as younger age, higher histological grade, higher rate of positive lymph node, bigger tumor size, higher clinical stage at diagnosis, higher histological grade, quicker and easier recurrence and metastasis and lower 5-year DFS rate and 5-year OS rate. The metastasis of TNBC had obvious organic tendency. The lungs, liver and brain were the first three most common sites of metastases. The information of age, the tumor size, lymph node status, clinical stage, histological grade, pathological types and operation method, especially the age and lymph node status play the important roles in judging the prognosis of TNBC.

Conclusions: According to this study we found that TNBC was a distinct subgroup of breast cancer with particular clinicopathologic behavior. Compared with the non-TNBC, TNBC was characterized by more aggressive behavior, and lower DFS and OS rate. The metastasis of TNBC had obvious organic tendency. The information of age, the maximum diameter of the tumor, lymph node status, clinical stage, histological grade, pathological types and operation method, especially the age and lymph node status played the important roles in judging the prognosis of TNBC patients.

Keywords: Triple-negative breast cancer.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interest exists.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Comparison of DFS between TNBC group and non- TNBC group. During the period of observation 90 patients occurred recurrence or metastasis in TNBC group and 168 patients in the non-TNBC group. The 5-years DFS was 72.05% (232/322) which differed significantly (p=0.003) compared to the rate in non-TNBC group were 86.62% (1088/1256). The 5-years DFS was significantly lower in TNBC group than those in non-TNBC group.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Comparison of OS between TNBC group and non- TNBC group. During the period of observation 37 patients died from breast cancer in TNBC group and 57 patients in the non-TNBC group. The 5-years OS was 88.51% (285/322) which differed significantly (p=0.031) compared to the rate in non-TNBC group was 95.46% (1199/1256). The 5-years OS was significantly lower in TNBC group than those in non-TNBC group.
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