Comparison of the effectiveness of neoadjuvant chemotherapy and adjuvant chemotherapy for improving prognosis in triple-negative breast cancer patients

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To compare the effectiveness of surgery combined with neoadjuvant chemotherapy and radiotherapy (SNCR) versus surgery combined with adjuvant chemotherapy and radiotherapy (SACR) in improving the prognosis of triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) patients. METHODS: Clinical data from 112 TNBC patients treated between January 2014 and February 2019 were retrospectively collected. Data included clinical characteristics and 5-year disease-free survival (DFS). Kaplan-Meier (K-M) survival curves were used to analyze the associations of various factors with DFS. Lasso-Cox regression was used to screen significant variables identified by K-M survival analysis. Multivariate Cox regression was used to determine independent prognostic factors affecting DFS. RESULTS: K-M survival analysis showed that treatment regimen (P=0.012), TNM (tumor, node, metastasis) staging (P=0.049), N staging (P=0.015), P53 (P=0.015), KI-67 (P=0.002), neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) (P<0.001), platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) (P<0.001), and cancer antigen 153 (CA153) (P<0.001) were associated with DFS in TNBC patients. Lasso-Cox regression analysis identified treatment regimen, TNM stage, P53, KI-67, NLR, PLR, and CA153 as features related to DFS when λ=0.053741 (1se). Multivariate Cox regression analysis revealed that treatment regimen (P<0.001, 95% CI: 2.309-14.396, HR=5.765), P53 (P=0.010, 95% CI: 1.315-7.864, HR=3.216), and NLR (P=0.001, 95% CI: 2.098-14.553, HR=5.525) were independent prognostic factors affecting DFS. A nomogram model was constructed, and time-dependent receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis showed that the model's areas under the curve (AUC) for predicting 1-, 3-, and 5-year DFS were 0.928, 0.816, and 0.665, respectively. CONCLUSION: The SNCR regimen significantly improves DFS in patients with stage IIb to IIIa TNBC compared to the traditional SACR regimen.