Table 1. Pretreatment characteristics and univariate associations with pCR.

	pCR n = 20	non-pCR n = 58	p
Clinical data
Median age (years)	48	52	ns
SBR grade
I–II	30%	21%	ns
III	70%	79%	ns
Chemotherapy regimen
SIM	25%	17%	ns
4 cycles EC - 4 cycles D	65%	69%	ns
Taxane-based	10%	14%	ns
Pathological data
CD133-expressing cells	3.5% (± 0.9)	10.4% (± 4)	< 0.01
ALDH1-expressing cells	2.6% (± 2.8)	8.6% (± 5.9)	< 0.01
CD146-expressing cells	6.3% (± 3.8)	17.8% (± 6.3)	< 0.01
CD133/ALDH1
co-expressing cells	1.2% (± 1.6)	6.3% (± 3.6)	< 0.01
CD133/CD146
co-expressing cells	3.1% (± 1.1)	9.2% (± 3.1)	< 0.01
Necrosis
Yes	25%	74%	< 0.01
No	75%	26%	< 0.01

SBR: Scarff, Bloom and Richardson grading system.

SIM: Dose-dense epirubicin-cyclophosphamide-based regimen (Lehmann-Che et al., 2010).

EC = epirubicin (100 mg/m²/cycle) and cyclophosphamide (500 mg/m²/cycle), one cycle every 21 days.

D = docetaxel (100 mg/m²/cycle), one cycle every 21 days.