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. 2021 Sep 1;149(5):1181-1188.
doi: 10.1002/ijc.33700. Epub 2021 Jun 5.

Tumor-stroma ratio is associated with Miller-Payne score and pathological response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy in HER2-negative early breast cancer

Sophie C Hagenaars  1 , Stefanie de Groot  2 , Danielle Cohen  3 , Tim J A Dekker  1   2 , Ayoub Charehbili  1   2 , Elma Meershoek-Klein Kranenbarg  1 , Marjolijn Duijm-de Carpentier  1 , Hanno Pijl  4 , Hein Putter  5 , Rob A E M Tollenaar  1 , Judith R Kroep  2 , Wilma E Mesker  1 ; Dutch Breast Cancer Research Group (BOOG)
Affiliations

Tumor-stroma ratio is associated with Miller-Payne score and pathological response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy in HER2-negative early breast cancer

Sophie C Hagenaars et al. Int J Cancer. .

Abstract

The tumor-stroma ratio (TSR) has proven to be a strong prognostic factor in breast cancer, demonstrating better survival for patients with stroma-low tumors. Since the role of the TSR as a predictive marker for neoadjuvant chemotherapy outcome is yet unknown, this association was evaluated for HER2-negative breast cancer in the prospective DIRECT and NEOZOTAC trials. The TSR was assessed on 375 hematoxylin and eosin-stained sections of pre-treatment biopsies. Associations between the TSR and chemotherapy response according to the Miller-Payne (MP) grading system, and between the TSR and pathological response were examined using Pearson's chi-square, Cochran-Armitage test for trend and regression analyses. A stroma-low tumor prior to neoadjuvant chemotherapy was significantly associated with a higher MP score (P = .005). This relationship remained significant in the estrogen receptor (ER)-negative subgroup (P = .047). The univariable odds ratio (OR) of a stroma-low tumor on pathological complete response (pCR) was 2.46 (95% CI 1.34-4.51, P = .004), which attenuated to 1.90 (95% CI 0.85-4.25, P = .119) after adjustment for relevant prognostic factors. Subgroup analyses revealed an OR of 5.91 in univariable analyses for ER-negativity (95% CI 1.19-29.48, P = .030) and 1.48 for ER-positivity (95% CI 0.73-3.01, P = .281). In conclusion, a low amount of stroma on pre-treatment biopsies is associated with a higher MP score and pCR rate. Therefore, the TSR is a promising biomarker in predicting neoadjuvant treatment outcome. Incorporating this parameter in routine pathological diagnostics could be worthwhile to prevent overtreatment and undertreatment.

Keywords: Miller-Payne; breast cancer; neoadjuvant; pathological response; tumor-stroma ratio.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no potential conflicts of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Representative H&E slides of breast tumor tissue for tumor‐stroma ratio evaluation, showing a stroma‐high (A) and a stroma‐low (B) tumor (magnification ×100) [Color figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com]
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Flowchart of patient inclusion
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
Association between the primary endpoint MP response and the stroma status for the total study cohort and stratified by ER status
FIGURE 4
FIGURE 4
Univariable association between the primary endpoint pCR and the stroma status for the total study cohort and stratified by ER status
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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