Circulating tumour cell enumeration does not correlate with Miller-Payne grade in a cohort of breast cancer patients undergoing neoadjuvant chemotherapy.

Purpose: The association between pathological complete response (pCR) in patients receiving neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) for breast cancer and Circulating Tumour Cells (CTCs) is not clear. The aim of this study was to assess whether CTC enumeration could be used to predict pathological response to NAC in breast cancer as measured by the Miller-Payne grading system.

Methods: Twenty-six patients were recruited, and blood samples were taken pre- and post-NAC.