ER-poor and HER2-positive: a potential subtype of breast cancer to avoid axillary dissection in node positive patients after neoadjuvant chemo-trastuzumab therapy.

Purpose: The study was to estimate the likelihood of axillary downstaging and to identify the factors predicting a pathologically node negative status after neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) with or without trastuzumab in HER2-positive breast cancer.

Methods: Patients with HER2-positive, stage IIa-IIIc breast cancer were enrolled. Axillary status was evaluated by palpation and fine needle aspiration (FNA) before NAC. All patients received 4-6 cycles of PCrb (paclitaxel 80 mg/m2 and carboplatin AUC = 2 d1, 8, and 15 of a 28-day cycle, or paclitaxel 175 mg/m2 and carboplatin AUC = 6 every-3-week) and were non-randomly administered trastuzumab (2 mg/kg weekly or 6 mg/kg every-3-week) or not. After NAC, each patient underwent standard axillary lymph node dissection and breast-conserving surgery or mastectomy. And some patients received sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) before axillary dissection.

Results: Between November-2007 and June-2013, 255 patients were enrolled. Of them, 157 were confirmed as axillary node positive by FNA (group-A) and 98 as axillary node negative either by FNA or impalpable (group-B). After axillary dissection, the overall pathologically node negative rates (pNNR) were 52.9% in group-A and 69.4% in group-B. The ER-poor/HER2-positive subtype acquired the highest pNNR (79.6% in group-A and 87.9% in group-B, respectively) and the lowest rate of residual with ≥4 nodes involvement (1.9% and 3%, respectively) after PCrb plus trastuzumab. In multivariate analysis, trastuzumab added and ER-poor status were independent factors in predicting a higher pNNR in HER2-positive breast cancer. Forty-six tested patients showed that the ER-poor/HER2-positive subtype acquired a considerable high pNNR and axillary status with SLNB was well macthed with the axillary dissection.

Conclusions: ER-poor/HER2-positive subtype of breast cancer is a potential candidate for undergoing sentinel lymph node biopsy instead of regional node dissection for accurate axillary evaluation after effective downstaging by neoadjuvant chemo-trastuzumab therapy.