Abstract:
Objective To investigate the impact of endocrine therapy (ET) on the prognosis of breast cancer patients with low estrogen receptor (ER) expression and to identify the associated independent prognostic factors.
Methods We retrospectively analyzed the clinicopathological data of 387 female patients with breast cancer with low ER expression and at stage Ⅰ-Ⅲ TNM who were treated surgically at Xinjiang Medical University Affiliated Tumor Hospital between January 2014 and May 2020. The patients were stratified into ET and non-ET groups based on whether they received ET administration. Propensity score matching (PSM) was used to balance intergroup differences, and survival analysis along with Cox proportional hazards models were applied to assess prognosis and the associated independent influencing factors.
Results Among the 387 patients, 214 (55.3%) received ET and 173 (44.7%) did not. Baseline data indicated that the non-ET group exhibited higher proportions of ethnic minorities and patients with regional lymph node involvement, advanced TNM stage, and no radiotherapy administration. After PSM, baseline characteristics showed no significant differences between the ET (n=132) and non-ET groups (n=132). Pre-PSM survival analysis revealed 5-year overall survival (OS) rates of 93.4% and 72.8% and 5-year disease-free survival (DFS) rates of 74.1% and 60.9% for the ET and non-ET groups, respectively; both rates showed statistically significant differences between the groups (P<0.05). Post-PSM, the 5-year OS rates significantly differed between the ET and non-ET groups (91.6% and 80.1%, respectively; P<0.05), whereas no significant difference in 5-year DFS rates were observed (71.1% ET group vs. 68.1% non-ET group, P>0.05). Multivariate analysis identified the following independent prognostic factors: for OS, ET administration, CK5/6 status, tumor size T3, lymph node status N2/N3, and radiotherapy administration (all P<0.05). For DFS, the independent factors included CK5/6 status, tumor size T3, lymph node status N2/N3, radiotherapy administration, and targeted therapy (all P<0.05).
Conclusions Endocrine therapy significantly improved the 5-year OS in breast cancer patients with low ER expression. CK5/6 positivity, large tumor size (T3), and regional lymph node involvement (N2/N3) were independent risk factors for both 5-year OS and DFS. Adjuvant radiotherapy and trastuzumab-based therapy significantly improved prognosis.