Her2 Expression and Response of Breast Cancer to Adjuvant Chemotherapy

Expression of the human epidermal growth factor receptor type 2 (HER2) in breast cancer patients may predict response to anthracycline or non anthracycline-based adjuvant chemotherapy. A total of 192 breast cancer patients diagnosed at the Latvian Oncology Centre from January 2002 to August 2005 were included in the study. Patients had histopathologically confirmed breast cancer, had undergone radical surgery and received at least four courses of adjuvant chemotherapy. HER2 expression was evaluated by immunohystochemical analysis. Median follow-up time was 32.1 months. In HER2 negative patients, the mean time to recurrence was 26.9 months (SD 1.465; 95%CI 23.9-29.4) for patients received antracycline-based chemotherapy and 33.2 months (SD 1.308; 95%CI 30.6-35.8) in the CMF chemotherapy group (P < 0.05). These HER2 negative patients could be treated with a less toxic regimen of CMF. In HER2 overexpressed patients receiving anthracycline based chemotherapy, mean time to recurrence was 30 months (SD 2.170; 95%CI 25.7-34.4) compared with 29.2 months (SD 1.965; 95%CI 25.4-33.1) in patients who received CMF, but the difference was not significant (P > 0.05).