Monitoring Serum VEGF in Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy for Patients with Triple-Negative Breast Cancer: A New Strategy for Early Prediction of Treatment Response and Patient Survival

Abstract

© AlphaMed Press 2018 Background: This study aimed to investigate the clinical utility of serum biomarker changes during neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) for triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). Methods: A total of 303 patients with TNBC were included in this study. Serum samples were taken at three time points during NAC: baseline, prior to the third cycle, and prior to surgery. Luminex multibiomarker panel for 29 serum biomarkers was used to detect their correlation with NAC response. The predictive and prognostic value of each selected biomarker was then studied. Results: Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) was the only biomarker that correlated with treatment response, with a decreasing trend in pCR patients relative to non-pCR patients (p