Abstract
Background: Expression of class III β-tubulin (βIII-tubulin) correlates with tumor progression and resistance to taxane-based therapies for several human malignancies including breast cancer. However its predictive value in a neoadjuvant setting in breast cancer remains unexplored. The objective of this explorative study was to determine whether βIII-tubulin expression in breast cancer correlated with pathologic characteristics and whether its expression was predictive of response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Patients and Methods: We determined βIII-tubulin expression in 85 breast cancers, including 41 localized breast cancers treated with primary surgery and 44 treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy before surgery. βIII-tubulin expression was evaluated by immunohistochemical methods and was correlated with pathologic characteristics and response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy using residual cancer burden (RCB) score. Results: High βIII-tubulin expression was significantly associated with poorly differentiated high-grade breast cancers (P =.003) but not with tumor size, estrogen receptor (ER) status, or human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)/neu overexpression. In ER - tumors treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy, high βIII-tubulin expression was associated with a significantly greater likelihood of achieving a good pathologic response to chemotherapy as reflected by lower RCB scores (P =.021). Conclusion: This study reveals differential βIII-tubulin expression in breast cancers of different histologic grades, hormone receptors, and HER2/neu status. It also suggests a potential role for βIII-tubulin as a predictive biomarker for response in neoadjuvant chemotherapy for ER- breast cancer, which has not been previously reported. These data provide a strong rationale for considering βIII-tubulin status and further validation of this marker in a large study.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 103-108 |
Number of pages | 6 |
Journal | Clinical breast cancer |
Volume | 13 |
Issue number | 2 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Apr 2013 |
Keywords
- Breast cancer
- Chemotherapy
- Class III β-tubulin
- Neoadjuvant
- Predictive biomarker
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Oncology
- Cancer Research